Harry Potter and the Road to Greatness
by KnowledgeableKa
Summary: Post GOF. Harry learns to control his magic and becomes independent with the help of Perenelle and Nicholas Flamel. Also, he finds love despite the rivalry between Gryffindors and Slytherins.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is my first fan fiction story. Reviews are appreciated. There will be Ron/Hermione/Dumbledore bashing in this story.

Disclaimer:

The Harry Potter universe and all the characters in it belong to J. K. Rowling.

Chapter 1 Realizations

It was the beginning of the summer vacation and you could hear the children laughing and playing outdoors. For Harry Potter, the-boy-who-lived, summer meant misery. You see, the Dursley's hated him because he could do magic and they considered that an abnormality. They called him a freak and made him do chores all day. They even told the neighbors that he went to St. Brutus's Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys.

When Harry reminded the Dursley's at Kings Cross Station that Sirius Black was his godfather, they became worried and treated him slightly better. They allowed him to keep the trunk and wand in his room. They even gave him slightly larger portions of food but despite the improvements, he was still lonely and depressed.

It was July 3rd and on that particular day, he was allowed to stay indoors since it was raining. However, Aunt Petunia still made him clean the house until it was spotless. After eating some food, he trudged up the stairs and entered his room. He glanced towards his alarm clock which read 10:00 P.M and began to do his nightly routine. He lay down on his lumpy mattress staring up at the ceiling, hoping that he wouldn't fall asleep and see Cedric Diggory get hit with the killing curse and the subsequent ritual that was used to provide Lord Voldemort with a new body.

"No! Don't kill Cedric. Don't kill Cedric… Stop!"

"Shut up freak! We're trying to get some sleep here." Yelled Vernon Dursley. Harry was shaking and his clothes were damp. He quickly went to the bathroom and vomited in the toilet.

When he returned to his room and climbed back onto his bed, he knew he wouldn't fall asleep again so he just lay there thinking about the last 4 years of his life. In his first year, he saved the philosopher's stone with some help from Ron and Hermione. In his second year, he saved Ginny down in the Chamber of Secrets from a basilisk and from being possessed by a diary. In his third year, he found out that Sirius Black was innocent and finally, he was forced to participate in the Tri Wizard tournament. Due to his participation, he was kidnapped and witnessed the return of Voldemort.

'It seems that every year, I get in to some trouble. Somehow, I end up surviving. It seems that some of the events were orchestrated behind my back. No 11 year old should have been able to bypass all the traps guarding the stone unless Dumbledore was trying to test me. And how did he not realize that people were petrified by the Basilisk? I seem to recall that Sirius wasn't given a fair trial. Since Dumbledore was the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, he could have given him a proper trial to prove his innocence. I wonder how binding that contract was considering the fact that I didn't enter the competition.'

He pondered those suspicious events in his mind and eventually, he realized that Dumbledore was manipulating him. He also knew that he was weak and needed to train so that he could fight back and protect others.

At exactly 6:30 A.M, Harry got up and made his way down to the kitchen to make breakfast for his relatives. As he was placing the food down on the table, he heard Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley coming down stairs and into the kitchen.

"We have a list of chores for you to do today. If you don't finish all of them by today, you won't get any more food today. You understand me boy?"

Yes uncle Vernon." Harry replied with an expressionless voice. He picked up the list and quickly read it.

1. Wash the dishes.

2. Clean the floor.

3. Wash the clothes.

4. Mow the lawn.

He tucked the list in his pocket, grabbed a piece of toast and casually strolled outside. He decided that he would start with mowing the lawn first because he knew that it wasn't going to be too hot outside at this time.

As he was mowing the lawn, he felt someone watching him. He discreetly looked around searching for anything out of the ordinary. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something shimmering. He thought that it was someone under a disallusionment charm so he pointed his wand in the general direction and said in a loud and intimidating voice, "Come out now or I'll hurt you!" With a curse, Nymphadora Tonks cancelled the charm and strode over to Harry.

"Who are you?" Harry asked in a suspicious voice.

"I'm Nymphadora Tonks. I would prefer it if you called me Tonks. I'm an auror and I was told by Dumbledore to guard you."

"Why?"

"He's worried that You-Know-Who,"

"Voldemort"

Tonks flinched at the name. "Yes… him…well Dumbledore's worried that he will try to capture you. She answered.

"Aren't there wards to protect me?"

"Yes but I was also told to make sure you didn't go beyond the wards." She said hesitantly.

Harry glared at Tonks and cooly stated, "So he basically wants to imprison me in this hellhole?"

Not expecting an answer, he briskly walked back inside the house to finish his chores.

Tonks disillusioned herself again and thought about the discussion she had with him.

'Wonder why he became angry when I mentioned Dumbledore? Well, Dumbledore wanted me to prevent him from going too far and he did mention that this place was a hellhole.'

She realized that she needed to either talk to him again or see what his relatives were like. She quietly made her way around to the kitchen window and peered inside. At that moment, Harry was trying to dodge Dudley's stick. He nimbly avoided the first few swipes but after a minute, he became tired and felt the bruises forming on his body. Tonks gasped at the brutality of the attack and decided that she was going to inform Dumbledore about this at the next order meeting.

Harry shakily stood up and glared at Dudley.

"Why did you attack me?"

"Because I saw you talking to someone for a couple of minutes. Since you're a freak, you can't talk to other people." Harry sighed, recognizing that there was no point in talking to him and continued to do his chores.

That night, Harry slept fitfully again and woke up biting his tongue to prevent himself from yelling out. As he glanced over at the alarm clock, he saw an old man sitting at his chair. He quickly pointed his wand at the intruder and hissed in a low voice,

"Who the hell are you?"

The stranger looked up meeting his gaze.

"My name is Nicholas Flamel."

It took a second for him to process the information but when it did register in his mind, he looked shocked and a bit suspicious.

"I thought you died when the Philosopher's Stone was destroyed." Said Harry.

"The stone that you saved was actually a fake."

Harry looked at him in surprise. After a couple of seconds, Nicholas said, "Since you're already awake, would you like to have breakfast with me?"

Harry nodded and with a couple of wand movements, Nicholas conjured a table full of food. They ate in silence. After they finished, Harry asked, "How long have you been in my room and why are you here?"

I've been here for most of the day observing you and as to why I am here speaking to you now, Perenelle and I would like you to become our apprentice."

Harry stared at him in disbelief. The only word he could say was, "Why?"

Nicholas chuckled and said, "You are smart, very powerful, a bit cunning and you have a pure heart despite the hardships you went through."

Nicholas saw that Harry didn't believe him. 'If he decides to learn from us, we'll have to help him to become confident and proud of his accomplishments.' He thought.

Meanwhile, Harry thought 'I can't believe that he wants me to learn from both of them. This is the opportunity I've been looking for. With their knowledge I can become strong and protect myself and the people I love.'

"So, do you wish to become our apprentice?"

Harry grinned and confidently said, "Yes."

Harry quickly wrote a note for the headmaster and his relatives.

Dear Dursleys and Professor Dumbledore:

I have been offered an apprenticeship which means that I will be going away for the rest of the summer. Please don't attempt to find me because I will be living in a protected home. I will be returning to Hogwarts on September 1.

HP

After Harry finished packing his trunk, Harry and Nicholas was whisked away to Flamel Mansion via a Portkey.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer:

The Harry Potter universe and all the characters in it belong to J. K. Rowling.

Chapter 2 Settling In

Albus Dumbledore was preparing for the upcoming school year while sucking on lemon drops when a couple of his silvery instruments started whirling quickly and whistling loudly. He briskly strode over to the instruments preparing to cast spells to determine where Harry Potter was located since they were tied to him. Just as he was about to cast the first spell, 1 of the instruments exploded while the other two completely stopped. Since Fawkes was nowhere to be seen, he grabbed one of the broken instruments, muttered "portus" while touching the object with his wand, and disappeared from his office.

He landed in front of Number 4 Privet Drive and rang the doorbell. A minute later, the door opened slightly and Vernon Dursley poked his head out but before the man could speak, he asked, "May I come in? I would like to speak to your family about Harry."

Vernon grunted and opened the door a bit wider. He followed him into the kitchen where Petunia was making breakfast. As soon as she saw Dumbledore, she started looking pale and Dudley covered his backside with his large hands and began to move himself away from the old man as far as possible.

"Good morning everyone. I would like to inquire about Harry. I understand he left."

"The freak just left while we were asleep. He left a letter though." Replied Petunia.

"May I see it?"

She nodded and pointed to a piece of paper on the table. He picked it up and quickly read the letter addressed to him and the Dursleys. He appeared to look calm and thoughtful but inside, he was seething with anger.

'Damn! Whoever is teaching him will teach him powerful magic and I need him to be weak and easily controllable. This will not do at all!'

He quickly burned the note and banished the ashes wandlessly.

"I would like to search his room and then I'll be off."

He climbed the stairs and entered Harry's room which happened to be the smallest bedroom in the house. He took out his wand and started casting complex diagnostic spells on the wards surrounding the perimeter of the house, looking for Harry's magical signature. Unfortunately, all he could find was the use of an untraceable portkey. With a sigh, he apparated back to the gates in front of Hogwarts.

He went back to his office, and tapped his pendent with an engraved phoenix with his wand, alerting all the members of the Order of the Phoenix that an emergency meeting would be held. Next, he tossed a handful of Floo powder in to the fireplace, stepped in to the flames, and yelled, "Number 12 Grimmauld Place."

The order members arrived at headquarters in small groups wondering what was so urgent that required an emergency meeting. As they were waiting, they chatted amongst themselves in small groups. In a corner, Mundungus was talking to Sirius about sneaking out of headquarters and on the other side of the room, the Aurors were discussing the ministry's incompetence. A couple of minutes later, Dumbledore stepped out of the fireplace and wandlessly cast a cleaning charm on his robes.

"Good morning everyone."

Everyone quieted down and looked at him waiting for him to continue.

"Thank you for coming to this meeting in a timely manner. This meeting will be short since we are only discussing 1 issue. Early this morning, the Wards on Harry Potter's home collapsed and he is nowhere to be found."

Pandemonium erupted around the room. It took a few loud bangs from the headmaster's wand to quiet down all the people. Sirius, Remus, Molly, Author, Bill, Alastor, Minerva and Tonks looked worried while everyone else looked slightly intrigued or indifferent. As usual, Snape was sneering at everyone while muttering "Arrogant stupid brat." under his breath.

"I believe you were on guard duty, Nymphadora." Dumbledore looked at her with a piercing gaze. "Please tell us if he gave any indication that he was leaving."

Everybody's eyes were focused on her.

"He was as usual doing chores all day. If he's not working, he's upstairs in his room or he's getting smacked around by his fat cousin."

Snape snorted and Tonk's's gaze lingered on him for a split second, daring him to dispute that statement.

"Do you think he left because his cousin was hurting him?" queried Dumbledore.

"I don't believe so. I think he's used to his cousin picking on him. He just endures the beatings and continues to do his chores. I don't think that's a good enough reason for him to leave."

Dumbledore nodded.

"His safety is of the utmost importance. I would like everyone who knows him to go search all the places he would go. Thank you everyone for coming to this meeting. If you see Mr. Potter, please contact me immediately."

With a thud, Harry landed on his backside. Nicholas chuckled and he glared at the old man. He looked around at the room where he was deposited and saw a plain door at the end of the room.

"Welcome to Flanel Mansion. This is the room where all portkeys are received. Pippsy."

With a pop, a neatly dressed house elf appeared in front of them.

"Can you take Mr. Potter's trunk to the guest quarters in the west wing?"

"Yes sir."

The elf grabbed the trunk and popped away. He stood up and followed Nicholas through the door and out in to the foyer. He saw many old paintings and a large chandelier.

"amazing isn't it? This mansion has been here for at least 2000 years now."

Harry nodded and continued to follow him through many passages that were twisting and turning. As they were walking, he saw many paintings studying him curiously and flitting from frame to frame speculating on his arrival.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"I'm taking you to your quarters so that you can get settled in." Replied Nicholas.

They arrived at the suite of rooms and Harry's mouth dropped open in astonishment. The room was spacious and looked luxurious. On the right side of the room, there was a large bed with thick covers as well as several pillows. The floor was carpeted and across from the entrance of the room, there were three doors which lead to a washroom, a walk-in closet and out onto the balcony which provided a view of the sea in all its glory. Located on the left side of the room, there was an oak desk for him to do his work. Also, the walls were charmed to display any images a person could think of.

"Once you are done unloading your belongings, call Pippsy and he will give you a tour of the castle."

He nodded and started unpacking the few possessions he had. When he finished, he called Pippsy who instantly appeared in front of him. Pippsy enthusiastically described a bit of the history of the castle and lead him up and down several flights of stairs. When he passed some rooms, he could see that there were several potion labs, dueling chambers, recreation rooms and other guest rooms. Pippsy stopped at the library and showed him how the library was sorted. Harry could see that books and scrolls were crammed on many bookshelves which spanned from floor to ceiling. Even though he wasn't a bookworm like his friend Hermione, he could appreciate the vast amount of knowledge the books and scrolls held. He spotted a pedestal in the centre of the room which held a thick book as well as a quill dipped in a pot of ink.

"What's that large book?"

"It is the library index. You just write the name of a book or a topic and it will display the book or books you are looking for. Then you tap the title with your wand which will summon the book to you."

"That's brilliant."

The next place they stopped at was the kitchens where he saw a few house elves cooking a meal.

"Welcome young master. If you need anything to eat, you can come to the kitchens any time." said one of the elves who was monitoring a pot of stew that was simmering on the stove.

"Thank you..."

"Binky."

"Thank you Binky."

Finally, they arrived at an indoor greenhouse filled with magical and non-magical plants which covered most of the room from floor to ceiling. The walls and the ceiling were made out of glass and between the foliage, sunlight could be seen.

'Wow. I bet Neville would really like this.'

Harry spotted Nicholas and Perenelle conversing while they were replanting some bubotubers. When Perenelle was finished with the plants, she turned around and Harry could see that she looked quite old. However, he could see that she had a sharp mind just like Nicholas due to the piercing gaze she gave him.

"Welcome my dear to my greenhouse. What do you think of it?"

"It looks amazing Mrs. Flamel."

"Thank you. By the way, you can call me Penny." She responded with a smile.

"And you can call me Nick. None of the sir crap. It's almost afternoon. Why don't we get something to eat before we talk?" Nicholas Suggested.

All three of them made their way to the kitchen. The house elves set platters of food in front of them and without any delay all of them began to eat. During their lunch they made light conversation and Harry found that the way Nicholas and Perenelle were teasing each other to be quite amusing and refreshing. He could also see by their interactions that they both loved each other dearly.

Once they were finished, they went to a recreation room filled with wizard and muggle inventions. In fact, he could see shelves covering most of the walls holding wizard and muggle games. There was even a large television on a wall. Noticing his gaze, Nicholas said,

"We used several runes to isolate the magic so that the television can run on electricity."

"That's cool." Replied Harry.

Harry settled himself comfortably on a recliner waiting for someone to start the discussion.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I've edited the first 2 chapters and I've made a few minor changes. You might want to reread the chapters again.

Disclaimer:

The Harry Potter universe and all the characters in it belong to J. K. Rowling.

Chapter 3 Discussions

Sirius was in a somber mood. He was in the kitchen with a few other order members, trying to distract himself from worrying about Harry by working on a complicated crossword puzzle. However, it wasn't working. He couldn't stay focused enough because his mind kept drifting back to Harry.

"I want to go search for him."

"It wouldn't be advisable to go out there unless you want to be caught." Snape sneered sounding cold as usual.

"Dammit! He's my godson. I have a right to go search for him. He could be in danger right now." Sirius replied in an angry tone.

"Stupid mutt. Did you hear I word I said? You could get caught."

"I don't care!"

He stood up and began to head outside but before he reached the kitchen door, Remus grabbed him.

"You and I might not care but surprisingly there are people that care about your safety." Drawled Snape.

"Snape is right. Many people care about you especially Harry. You know Harry, he would blame himself if you got caught."

He sighed and sat back down.

"Why aren't you looking for Harry?" he inquired.

"I knew that you and Snape don't get along so I decided to make sure both of you guys behave." Remus replied with a hint of amusement in his voice.

At that moment Fred, George, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione entered the kitchen. Noticing the somber mood, Hermione asked, ""What's wrong?"

"Early this morning, the wards on Privet Drive collapsed and Harry is missing." Sirius said in an expressionless voice.

Hermione and Ginny gasped and Fred, George and Ron looked worried.

Currently most of the order members are searching for him in popular magical areas such as Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley, and Gringotts." Stated Remus.

"What if he is hiding in the muggle world?"

"Thank you for reminding us Ms. Granger. We can have some order members search the areas he would go to in the muggle world. Has he told you any places he likes to go?

"No he never really told us any places and we never asked." Hermione replied looking ashamed.

"I'm sure that we'll find him soon."

"I don't think we'll be able to find him"

"considering he's a lot more cunning than we give him credit for." George finished sounding proud.

"Potter cunning?" Snape scoffed in a derisive tone.

"Indeed. He's also very intelligent and ambitious. In fact, he's helped us out with our goal of making the best joke shop in the world." Said Fred.

"What do you mean?" inquired Ron.

"Ask us no questions..."

"and we'll tell you no lies." The twins sang out sounding amused.

While that conversation was taking place at Grimold Place, another equally important discussion was occurring at Flamel Mansion.

"We would like to talk to you about Albus Dumbledore and Tom Riddle but before we do so, let's talk about what you want to learn from us." Nicholas said.

"well, I would like to learn everything you're willing to teach me." Harry replied with a blush.

"Excellent!" Nicholas beamed.

"We will also teach you how to use any abilities you may have and if we aren't able to, we will find someone who has the same ability and are able to teach you. Stated Perenelle.

"Thank you Penny.

"Now what do you know about Albus Dumbledore the Light Lord and Tom Riddle the Dark Lord?" Nicholas asked in a serious voice.

"Well, I know that people call him the greatest wizard of our age and supposedly when he went to Hogwarts, he was in Griffindor. Dumbledore learned magic and alchemy from you and he worked with you to discover the 12 uses of dragon's blood. He is also known for defeating Grindelwald. He's currently the headmaster of Hogwarts and he is bonded to a phoenix named Fawkes. Tom Riddle is Voldemort's real name. He's a half blood even though he believes in pure blood supremacy. He can speak Parseltongue and he has a pet snake named Nagini. He used my blood in a ritual to regain his body and powers."

"You're information is mostly correct. Except that Albus is not bonded to Fawkes. He used a Slavery spell to control his phoenix.

Harry looked shocked.

"I bet you're wondering how he could do such a thing considering he is supposed to represent the light side."

He nodded.

"I think you'll understand better if we start from the beginning of his life. Perenelle responded with a tinge of sadness in her voice. With a flick of her wand, she conjured a cup of water which she took a sip from and began to narrate his life.

"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was born in August of 1881 to Percival and Kendra Dumbledore. He has a younger brother named Aberforth who is 3 years younger than him. His sister, Ariana was viciously attacked by 3 muggle boys when she was 6 due to the fact that she performed accidental magic in front of them. As a result of that incident, she was severely traumatized to the point where she couldn't function socially or properly perform magic. Percival was sentenced to life in Azkaban for hexing the boys. Kendra moved the family to Godric's Hollow and concealed Ariana's condition by spreading rumours that she was a squib. When Albus finished Hogwarts, he and his friend Elphias Doge planned to tour the world but before he could, his mother, Kendra accidentally past away due to Ariana's uncontrolled outbursts of accidental magic. Aberforth offered to take care of Ariana but Albus refused because he felt obligated to take care of the family since he was the oldest person of the household,. One day, he met Gellert Grindelwald who was living with his aunt, Bathilda Bagshot. Both boys became good friends and they dreamt of wizards ruling over muggles by combining the Deathly Hallows. They justified all their actions no matter if it was moral or not by saying it was for the greater good. There was a disagreement between Albus, Aberforth, and Grindelwald which lead to Ariana's death. To this day, no one knows who cast the curse that ended her life. Grindelwald left and Albus felt guilty. For a while, he abandoned the idea of wizards ruling over muggles and the philosophy of the greater good. This was the time period when he was apprenticed to us and his discovery of the 12 uses of dragon's blood. Unfortunately, his interest rekindled when he realized that your invisibility cloak which is a Potter heirloom, is one of the Deathly Hallows."

""The Deathly Hallows?"

"They are powerful artifacts. You can learn about them by reading The Tales Of Beedle The Bard which is a children's story." Replied Nicholas.

Perenelle took another sip of water and continued her narrative.

"As a result of his interest, we hired spies to keep track of his activities. He became the transfiguration professor at Hogwarts and taught Tom Riddle. Nick and I believe he was consolidating his power. He began by influencing Armando Dippet who was the headmaster during Tom's time and then he moved on to the minister. In 1981, Sybill Trelawney made a prophecy about you. Unfortunately, we don't know what it says but we think that it has to do with you defeating Tom. Dumbledore felt threatened by this because whoever defeated Tom would be extremely influential so he put you in an abusive environment so you would be weak, easily manipulated, and you would look up to him when you re-entered the wizarding world. In your first year, he setup extremely simple traps to guard the stone which was fake. In your second year, he could have used his Legilimency skills to determine the person controlling the basilisk. By the way, you should return to the chamber and harvest the snake. Everything in your third year should not have happened if Dumbledore who was and still is the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot did his job properly. He could have demanded a fair trial with Veritaserum and in your fourth year, he could have easily identified the imposter before your name was put into the goblet."

She paused for a second and then she took a deep breath.

"Now what I'm about to tell you next might come as a surprise to you and you most likely won't believe it unless you saw it happen with your own eyes."

"Just don't shoot the messenger when you find out." Nicholas piped in.

"Pippsy?"

"Yes mistress?"

"Please bring the court pensive."

With a slight pop, the elf disappeared. Several seconds later, Pippsy appeared again holding an extremely large pensive with hundreds of runes carved onto the surface.

"I know what a pensive does in general but what's a court pensive?"

"It is a pensive used in trials because it is able to determine if a memory is tampered with or not. If it glows red after you put in a thought, then it means the thought has been changed and if it glows green, it means it is a true memory. You also have the option of projecting your thoughts so that everyone can see without them having to touch the memories."

Perenelle placed the tip of her wand on her temple and extracted strands of memory which she dumped into the bowl. Then she tapped a triangular shaped rune with her wand which caused the images to begin playing above the pensive.

The image began with a spy following Hermione and Ron at a distance through the shadows while They were walking down the corridor heading towards the gargoyle protecting the headmaster's office. Once the spy and the students entered the office, Ron and Hermione sat down in front of the headmaster while the Spy completely submerged himself into the shadows.

"Good evening Ms. Granger Mr. Weasley. Lemon drop?"

Both students shook their heads and Dumbledore popped one in his mouth.

"Before I tell both of you some important information, do you have any information you would like to share with me on Mr. Potter?"

"Well, he looks really sad and he isn't talking to anyone about what happened at the graveyard. I know that he blames himself for Cedric's death. I tried to tell him that it isn't good for him to bottle his feelings up but he doesn't listen to me. In one of my books, I read that it is a good idea for people dealing with grief to talk about it. Maybe I'll send him the book during the summer."

'She's bloody insensitive.' Harry thought.

"Excellent. He is lucky to have your support. Hermione sat straighter in her chair and had a smug smile on her lips. As for this summer, I would ask both of you to not send him any mail. I am afraid that messages would be intercepted."

Hermione and Ron nodded.

'Stupid sheep.'

"How long do we have to pretend to be his friends and when are we getting paid?" Ron inquired in an impatient tone.

"I will be depositing the money in your accounts at the beginning of July and I will also provide some more books from my personal library for you Ms. Granger."

"Thank you headmaster. I can't wait to read them!"

"Well then. I will be seeing both of you at the end of year feast."

Realizing that it was a dismissal, Hermione and Ron left. The scene faded and the next memory began to play.

In the headmaster's office, Dumbledore sat across from an 11 year old Hermione Granger.

"It is my responsibility as a professor to prepare you for the wizarding world which includes warning you about the ancient aspects of wizarding society. I've been told that we are currently stuck in the 19th century because of the way we dress and the customs we still follow."

"Headmaster?"

"We have a Ministry of Magic which govern the magical community in Britain and it is mostly comprised of ancient and noble families. Anyone who isn't from a noble family or isn't a half blood or pure blood will have trouble influencing the magical community and getting jobs at the ministry due to prejudice. They see muggle-borns as inferior."

""But that's not right."

"I know and I am doing my best to gain equal rights for muggle-borns. Meanwhile, muggle-borns tend to make connections with influential people and if they are lucky, they are able to be sponsored which provides more job opportunities. Hermione was soaking all of the information like a sponge. "I would like you to help me by providing me with information about your friend Harry. I care for his well-being. I can pay you for your work and provide you with rare books from my personal library. I can also guarantee that you will have the head girl badge in your last year which is a great honour to have. Ms. Granger will you help me?"

"Yes I'll help you."

'For someone who's supposed to be the smartest witch of our generation, she could be absolutely dense.' Harry thought scornfully.

His eyes twinkled brightly.

"Excellent! I will send you a note when I need to speak to you."

The scene once again faded. The next scene that was projected showed Ron sitting across the table from the headmaster in the kitchen at the Burrow.

"Am I in trouble sir?"

"Not at all my boy. I want to talk to you alone because I have a job for you that might be dangerous and I dare say your mother would not approve if she knew the problem."

"Whatever it is, I'll help." Ron quickly responded.

"Excellent. I would like you to keep a close eye on Mr. Potter and report to me every month. You will be paid handsomely for your work. Remember this is very important."

"Yes sir." "

As the last scene faded away. Harry sat there looking stunned and felt completely numb. He couldn't believe it. His two best friends betrayed him for money, rare books and a head girl badge. His eyelids began to prickle and before he knew it, he was sobbing his eyes out. Nicholas and Perenelle came over to him and both of them embraced him while he continued crying. A while later, Harry cried himself out and drifted off to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer:

The Harry Potter universe and all the characters in it belong to J. K. Rowling.

Chapter 4 Tests

As Harry slowly opened his eyes, he felt disoriented and wondered where he was. A few moments later, memories of the previous day's events came back to him in a flood of disjointed thoughts. Feeling depressed, he stayed in bed for another hour not thinking about anything until he heard his stomach grumble. He slowly climbed out of bed, did his morning routine and found his way to the dining room where Nicholas and Perenelle were having breakfast.

"Good morning Harry." Nicholas greeted him jovially.

"How do you feel today my dear?"

"I'm still pretty upset but it doesn't hurt as much." Said Harry.

He took a seat and began piling scrambled eggs bacon and toast on to his plate.

"Once you are done eating we need to finish our discussion on Dumbledore and Voldemort." Said Nicholas.

He nodded and a few minutes later, they moved into the recreation room.

"Now let's talk about Voldemort. As you have learned, his name is Tom Riddle and he is a half blood but what you might not have known is that his childhood was quite similar to yours. He was born to Merope Gaunt and the muggle Tom Riddle. When the muggle found out that Merope had used a love potion on him, he resented her and left. After giving birth to Tom, she died several hours later. He grew up in an orphanage where he was bullied. Once he discovered magic and his ability to control it to a degree, he used it to harm other kids. He took great pleasure in it and continued to do so while at Hogwarts. No one suspected a thing except for Albus because he hid his real personality behind the façade of an exemplary student. After graduating from Hogwarts, he worked for Borgin & burkes. "A few years later, he disappeared and when he returned, he became Voldemort, the person we all know today. Unfortunately, that was all the information we could gather. The only person that knows more about him than us is Albus and he's he doesn't give up information willingly."

"Nick is correct. It is very hard to get information from him. When I saw that he was greatly affected by Ariana's death, I offered to be there for him if he wanted to let his feelings out but he never took me up on my offer. In fact, he just bottled up all his feelings and he never got over it."

"Anyways, that will be one of your tasks when you return to school." Said Nicholas.

"What? You want me to find more information about Voldemort from Dumbldore who's very powerful and extremely cunning?"

"Yup."

"How the hell am I supposed to do that?"

"I'm sure you'll think of something." Nicholas replied with an amused expression. "You'll also have to figure out Dumbldore's plan regarding you."

"Oh great." Harry responded sarcastically.

"Don't worry my boy. We'll teach you some magic that will help you in your tasks." Replied Nicholas.

"You know, you sound like Dumbledore when you call me my boy." Commented Harry.

"Sorry about that. Nick and Albus can be eccentric sometimes." Perenelle responded in amusement.

"Hey! I'm not eccentric at all."

Harry just gave him an amused look.

"Now Harry. Today we need to test you on your magical knowledge. Don't worry if you cannot answer all the questions. We would appreciate it if you did not hold back on your knowledge."

"What subjects will I be tested in and will I get in trouble for using magic? I'm assuming there's a practical portion for each subject." Harry asked apprehensively.

"We will be testing you in DADA, Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, Herbology and physical fitness. Also, you won't have to worry about breaking any laws because one of our wards prevents magic from being sensed by the ministry." Replied Perenelle.

""Alright which subject should I do first?"

"How about transfiguration." Said Nicholas. "It's one of my favourite branches of magic."

Harry followed the Flamels into a classroom with a dozen chairs and desks stacked against the wall. He could see a chalkboard at the front of the room as well as an hour glass. Nicholas levitated a desk and a chair into the center of the room before placing several sheets of paper along with pencils which appeared out of thin air. He looked at the pencils in surprise.

"We know that pencils and pens are better writing implements than quills." Perenelle responded with a smile.

"I'll be supervising your test while Penny takes care of other business. You may begin now."

Harry turned over the first sheet of paper and began to read the questions. He was easily able to answer all of the questions on the first and the second page. On the third page which contained questions on self transfiguration, he began to slow down and think things through. On the fourth page which was on conjuration, he was only able to answer the questions briefly which slightly irritated him even though he knew conjuration was taught to the seventh years. Two hours later, he passed his test over to Nicholas while he massaged his aching hands. After the theoretical portion of the evaluation, he had to do the practical part. Nicholas had him change his desk into a chair, a box, a sink and several different uniquely shaped items. He also, had to change his desk into an animal of his choice. To Nicholas's surprise, Harry changed his desk into a stag.

"Very well done! You're a natural at it. In fact I think you are just as good as your father at transfiguration. Your transfigured objects are very detailed."

"Thanks Nick." Harry said replied with a large smile on his face.

"Which subject would you like to do next?"

""How about potions."

As Harry began writing his answers on another set of papers, Nicholas turned over the hour glass once more. He was able to breeze through the first few pages on the exam since it pertained to ingredient reactions and safety when creating potions. The following pages asked about techniques and in the last few pages, he had to write procedures for common potions as well as develop a new potion. When the sand reached the bottom of the hour glass, he handed his test over to Nicholas. They moved into the next room which was a potions lab. He could see burners, stirring rods, knives, cauldrons' of various sizes made from different materials as well as racks of potions which took up an entire wall. Nicholas had him create, a simple boil cure potion, then a shrinking solution, and finally, the draft of living death. Harry diligently took out all the necessary ingredients and began to chop, stir and ground them until he felt satisfied with his work. As he was working, he realized that he was doing a lot better without Snape breathing down his back. When he completed all three potions, he saw that the colour of the first potion was perfect while the second and third ones was a few shades lighter than it should be.

"Well done. Even though your instructions in potions has been terrible, you ended up doing quite well. Now why don't we test your physical fitness. It's better to do it on an empty stomach rather than when your belly is full."

Harry followed Nicholas outside to a field containing football nets and a race track which went around the perimeter of the grassy area. Nicholas tested him on his speed by asking him to sprint around the track as well as his long distance capabilities by making him run around the track as many times as he could. After 12 laps of non-stop jogging, Harry stopped, too tired to continue. Then they went back inside to the weight and he was tested on his upper and lower body strength. As he was lifting weights, he realized that he wasn't very strong.

"I'm starving. I could eat a hippogriff."

As Harry said this, Pippsy popped in front of them and told them that lunch was ready. They met Perenelle in the dining room who greeted them politely.

"How do you find the testing so far?" Inquired Perenelle.

"Some parts of the tests are quite challenging."

"Indeed. Nick and I did those tests 547 years ago and we found them to be challenging as well. What subject do you wish to do next?"

"I would like to do Herbology next. It will give me time to digest the food."

After everyone finished eating, Harry followed Perenelle back to the classroom. The test began with the written portion which contained questions asking about the characteristics of each plant as well as its uses. The final page pertained to breeding plants. He easily answered the first few page while he struggled with the section on breeding new species of plants. Once he finished the written portion of the exam, he went back to the indoor greenhouse and was asked to identify, different flowers and trees. Also, he had to plant and remove different specimens of plants. Some flowers were easy to handle while other trees were quite difficult since some of the vines tried to restrict his movements.

The next subject that he was evaluated in was Defence against the Dark Arts. Once again, he was back in the classroom writing the theoretical part of the exam. Since DADA was one of his strongest subjects, he was able to answer a large section easily. The only area where he had trouble was the part on dark arts. Even though he had seen dark arts being used, he didn't know much about it.

The practical part of the test consisted of two duels. A duel would be Harry against Nicholas while the other one would be Harry against the Flamels. The desk was cleared away and the two opponents faced each other, their wands ready. When the signal was given for them to begin, Harry instantly moved to the left narrowly missing a stunner. He quickly retaliated by silently casting several stunners in Nicholas's general area hoping he would step in the path of a stunner. Naturally, Nicholas cast a shield charm. However, instead of absorbing his spells, it deflected them back towards him. He had to dodge or shield himself from all of Nicholas's spells. While he was preoccupied with dodging and shielding, Nicholas made the floor extremely slippery. Due to Harry's excellent balance, he skated across the floor as close to him as possible before casting a blinding curse and attempting to snatch Nicholas's wand but before he could, he was knocked out by a stunner to the back.

Harry opened his eyes and saw Nicholas standing above him with a grin on his face. He took his wand back and stood up slowly.

"Excellent. You lasted two minutes in our duel and your silent casting was most impressive. When did you learn silent casting?"

"Last year, I wanted to cast certain spells quietly because I didn't want to wake my roommates up so I whispered my spells and found them to be strong. I realized that the volume of your voice had no impact on the strength of your spells so I began to work on silent casting. I can cast spells without sub-vocalizing the incantations because I remember the feel of the magic but I still have to rely on wand movements. I'm hoping with your help, I'll be able to limit my wand movements even further"

"That is quite impressive. I will certainly work with you on that."

Five minutes later, Harry stood across from Nicholas and Perenelle, waiting for the signal to begin from the head elf who was judging the duel. When the signal was given, Harry disillusioned himself and cast the blinding curse. Then he sprayed the floor with water and turned it into ice. Nicholas sent a jet of glow-in-the-dark paint mixed with itching curses in retaliation while Perenelle cast a grip charm, undid all of Harry's spells, and shielded both of them from anything that came their way. He ducked under the stream of paint and curses while transfiguring two tables in to small puppies which yapped and barked loudly. Nicholas blasted both puppies with two reductor curses and Perenelle shielded both of them from a flurry of hexes and curses that were sent their way. Knowing that Harry was tiring quickly, the Flamels simultaneously swished their wands through the air and sent two jets of gray light at Harry who tried to dodge them. No matter how hard he tried to evade the lights, the two lights kept on following him. Twenty seconds later, both lights hit him and he was knocked unconscious.

"Well done my dear. You lasted two minutes against us."

Harry took his wand back from Perenelle and took in the carnage. He could see paint and water splattered all over the floor and walls as well as pieces of the desks Nicholas destroyed.

"There were several things you could have done in both of the duels. In the first one, you could have used other branches of magic such as transfiguration. Also, you should not forget that spells can come from behind. In the second duel, there were several instances where you could have retaliated. When I blasted the puppies, you could have transfigured those pieces into other objects and charmed them to attack Penny and myself. Anyhow, you did very well and should be proud of yourself. The idea of making the floor slippery and using a blinding curse was brilliant."

"Thanks Nick. I guess the final test is charms."

Nicholas nodded and with several swishes of his wand, the room was cleaned and the broken desks were fixed. When the hour glass turned over, Harry began answering questions on different types of charms as well as the mechanics involved to be able to cast them correctly. On the final page, he had to take a few minutes to think of charms that could be used creatively. He wrote about household charms and how they could be used in duels. While Harry was writing down his answers, Nicholas and Perenelle were discussing the results of his evaluation. In the practical part, he had to cast several charms. He was able to do most of them silently. He even demonstrated the Patronus charm which impressed Nicholas and Perenelle.

When the tests were over, Harry thanked both of them for taking the time to evaluate him. Knowing that dinner was going to be in half an hour, he made his way back to his room, took a shower and relaxed a bit before heading down to the dining room. When he finished devouring a large amount of food, he returned to his room feeling extremely exhausted. He collapsed onto his soft bed and fell asleep instantly without taking off his clothes.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer:

The Harry Potter universe and all the characters in it belong to J. K. Rowling.

Chapter 5 Healing

Early in the morning, Harry was woken up by a young, annoying, and cheerful sounding house elf.

"Young master must wake up!"

He groaned, slowly opened his eyes, and quickly cast the charm to tell the time. A shimmering haze came out of his wand coalescing in to big letters and numbers stating that it was 7:30 A.M.

"Alright I'll be down in a few minutes."

The elf popped away and Harry began his morning routine. Several minutes later, he stumbled in to the dining room still looking groggy and half asleep.

"Good morning Harry. I take it you aren't a morning person?" Nicholas inquired in a teasing tone.

"Good morning Nick, good morning Penny. I do wake up early to make breakfast for my relatives but usually I get out of bed at around 6:40.

As Harry took a seat, a plate appeared and he began to pile food on to it.

"Nick and I have discussed the results of your tests for each subject and it is quite apparent that your learning style is more practical than theoretical which means that we will be taking a practical approach to magic."

"You'll still be learning all the theories but it will be through demonstrations rather than books." Nicholas piped in.

Harry nodded.

Perenelle took a sip of tea before she continued with her assessment of his skills. "Your understanding of the basic principals is solid so you did quite well on the written portion of the test. Where you excelled greatly was the practical portion which means we will be working on a more advanced understanding of different principals because you already have an instinctual feel for transfiguration magic. In potions, you did pretty well on the practical and theoretical considering the poor instruction you received but we will definitely need to go over many of the basics again. As for physical fitness, you did fairly well but as you realized playing Quidditch is not enough exercise to make you fit. You are quite skilled in herbology. However, what separates you from being good and excellent is your lack of enthusiasm."

"I'm not surprised. My relatives forced me to do their garden since I was a kid so I know some stuff about planting but since I considered it a chore rather than a pleasurable hobby, it pretty much destroyed any enthusiasm I had for that subject." Replied Harry.

Perenelle nodded. "Your knowledge in Defense Against" the Dark Arts is very good because you have good reflexes and you are able to do silent casting. However, you need to broaden your spell repertoire and learn more about the dark arts. And finally, Charms is also very good, we just need to teach you more advanced material.

""Thanks. Will both of you be teaching me today?

"No. Not today. We need to take care of a couple of things in Diagon alley." Replied Nicholas.

"What types of things?"

"We need to talk to your account manager at Gringotts, purchase an entire wardrobe that is befitting for the ancient and noble house of Potter and get you a custom made wand."

Harry and the Flamels moved into the living room as the platters of food and plates disappeared off the table. As they approached the fireplace, it sprang to life casting a warm glow around the room.

"I didn't see you use your wand to light the fireplace."

"I added proximity spells on the fireplace. I got that idea from muggle technology." Nicholas replied in a proud tone.

"Now now Nick, you shouldn't boast. Perenelle said in a teasing tone. "Oh, don't forget boys to put a glamour on."

"Um Penny? I don't know how to cast a glamour." Harry looked embarrassed. "It wasn't something I thought important to learn."

"Not to worry my dear. It is very similar to the Disillusionment Charm. Instead of picturing yourself being invisible, you need to visualize the way you want to look. The incantation is encanto."

Harry closed his eyes and pictured a middle aged man with an aristocratic face and a fairly well muscled body. Then he gently tapped his head with his wand and said "encanto." The first few attempts, he was only able to produce a weak glamour which flickered out after 10 seconds. After a minute, he was able to cast a fairly decent glamour. Once he figured out the feel of the spell, he was able to push the magic down his arm, through his hand, and into his wand.

"Very good. Your glamours will continually be better if you continue to practice this spell." Perenelle advised with an encouraging smile.

Once everyone took a pinch of flu powder from a pot on top of the mantle, Harry and his mentors tossed their flu powder into the fire, stepped into the fireplace and shouted Diagon Alley. As Harry came out of the fireplace at the Leaky cauldron, he flew through the air and crashed into a table. Wincing, he stood up and sheepishly smiled, hoping that no one saw his spectacular entrance. Fortunately, no one was paying attention to the fireplaces at that time except for Nicholas and Perenelle.

"That was one of the worst entrances I've ever seen." Chortled Nicholas.

"You should think about foot placement when you come out of the fireplace. For example, take your left or right foot and move it to the side like you are stopping a bicycle." Perenelle suggested kindly.

"Thanks. I'll have to try that next time."

As they made their way to the archway behind the pub, Harry took out his wand and tapped the brick to gain access to the alley. The wall became an arch and he could see that nothing changed since the last time he visited the place. Children still pressed their noses to the window of the quiditch shop admiring the latest brooms, adults and teenagers still did their shopping and he could see flashing signs which advertised their merchandise. They made their way through the crowds of people towards the white building at the end of the cobbled street. Once they passed through the large silver doors into the bank, Harry could see many goblins counting gems and stacking coins.

"Now Harry, since you are a Potter, you have an account manager. This means that he is in charge of your finances and will do everything in his power to help you. You should ask for him when you speak to one of the goblins at the counter." Instructed Nicholas.

Harry nodded and strode over to a free goblin. "Good morning. My name is Harry Potter and I would like to talk to my account manager."

"Very well Mr. Potter. Please wait a moment and someone will lead you to Sharpclaw."

A minute later, a familiar looking goblin beckoned for Harry and his group to follow him. "Good morning Griphook. I hope you are making plenty of gold?"

"A Good morning to you to Mr. Potter. It seems you are different than other wizards. You are one of the few witches and wizards who remember goblins by name and as for making plenty of gold, I am making quite a bit."

Harry and the Flamels followed Griphook down a long corridor with many doors which were surprisingly labeled. There was a large sign on each door which had the name of the account manager as well as the name of the house or houses they served. As he walked past each sign, he couldn't help but read them. He found some names to be quite strange such as Grimtooth, and Toughbone but he also recognized some names such as Greengrass, Malfoy, Black and Bones. Everyone stopped at a door clearly labeled "Sharpclaw. Ancient and Noble House of Potter"

Griphook knocked on the door and a gruff voice told them to come in. As they entered the room, Harry could see a large gleaming polished desk taking up a wall of the office and many shiny large weapons hanging on the walls. Behind the desk sat an old spindly goblin who observed everyone with keen eyes. Sharpclaw dismissed Griphook after Harry and the Flamels took seats in front of his desk. The chair molded to his body and he couldn't help but wonder if he could purchase a chair like this. A cough brought him back to attention.

"Good morning Mr. Potter, Lord and Lady Flamel. It is a pleasant surprise to see three of our most valued customers sitting in this office. How may I be of service?"

"I would like to see a record of all my withdraws if that isn't too much trouble."

Sharpclaw looked at Harry strangely for a moment before he snapped his fingers. A moment later, a thick and heavy book appeared on the desk. With another snap of his fingers, the book opened on to a page which listed the transactions starting from 1981.

Harry picked up the book and began to skim through the records. As he read further down the page, his face began to darken and he could feel his magic stirring inside of him. Before he lost control, Perenelle put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"My dear, you need to calm down."

He took a couple of deep breaths and felt his magic subsiding. "Thanks penny."

"You are very welcome." She replied with a kind smile.

"I see here that Albus Dumbledore has withdrawn 400000 gallions from 1981 till now. How is this possible?" Harry asked in a cold voice.

"Albus Dumbledore is your magical guardian which means that he is responsible for your magical education and should be someone who you could go to for any help regarding magic and wizarding culture. That is why he is able to access your trust vault."

Harry sighed. I take it there isn't a legal way for making Dumbledore return my money at this time?"

"You are correct Mr. Potter. However, you can easily become an emancipated minor which means that you will have full control over your life and this will prevent any similar methods of theft from occurring in the future. The only privilege that you will not have until you are 21 is the right to participate as a " member of the Wizengamot. This means that you will either have to find someone who is willing to take your seat so they can vote on your behalf or you will have to leave your seat empty until you become fully emancipated."

"I see." Harry responded in a thoughtful tone. "What would be the reason that I am able to become an emancipated minor and what do I need to do ?"

"By participating in the Triwizard tournament, you are given the option of becoming emancipated. All you need to do is to sign these papers to let the ministry know that you've decided to become the head of house Potter."

"I see. What is the catch if there is one?"

Sharpclaw grinned which looked quite frightening to Harry. "You might inherit debts that your ancestors never paid off. I am not able to tell you anything more unless you agree to become an emancipated minor."

Harry weighed the advantages and disadvantages by dredging up all his knowledge on his family as well as the little bit of information he knew regarding wizarding culture. After several minutes of silence, he said in a strong and firm voice, "I'll do it."

Sharpclaw handed Harry a package which he eagerly signed after perusing the documents for a few minutes.

The Flamels and Sharpclaw smiled.

"Congratulations Mr. Potter. Now, you just need to bond with the head of house ring."

"Is it possible to give Harry an inheritance test before you give him the ring?" Inquired Nicholas.

"Certainly. It will cost 50 gallions per person.""

Seeing Harry's questioning look, Sharpclaw informed him that it is a way for customers to determine their lineage and any inheritance's they are entitled to.

Without hesitation, Harry agreed to do it. Much to his embarrassment, the Flamels wouldn't take no for an answer when he told them that he was willing to pay to do the test so seeing as how it was futile to argue with them, he decided to just let them pay and make it up to them another time. Sharpclaw cast a tiny cutting charm on his index finger and he reluctantly dripped two drops of blood in to a yellow potion which turned green an instant later. Sharpclaw took out a sheet of parchment and dumped the concoction onto it. Instantly, text and lines began to appear covering every centimeter. After a minute of this, the text and lines stopped moving and he could see an intricate family tree.

Harry could see that he was related to many families through marriage but what caught his attention were the names Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin. "How am I related to Slytherin? I suspected I was related to Gryffindor because I was able to pull his sword out of the sorting hat but Slytherin?"

It was Perenelle who answered him. "You are related to him on your mother's side which is why you have the gift of parcel tongue."

"You mean I inherited that ability because I'm related to him and not because of Voldemort transferring the skill to me?"

"We suspected that something transferred to you the night you destroyed his body and we think it is currently residing in your scar so it was a possibility that part of his gifts transferred to you but now that we have seen your family tree, we can tell you without any hesitation that your ability to speak with snakes is something that you have inherited from your mother's side of the family." Responded Perenelle.

"Sharpclaw coughed to get their attention. "As interesting as this is, we need to discuss the inheritances you have gained."

Harry and the Flamels turned their attention back to Sharpclaw.

"Even though you are a descendant of Lord Griffindor and Lord Slytherin, you cannot become the lord of those houses because during their time, they did not wear any rings to show their status and a system of nobility did not exist. Also they did not have any vaults here since Gringotts was founded 200 years later. This means that there are no properties or possessions that you can inherit. However, you would have inherited their gifts being natural healing and parcel tongue."

Harry nodded. "Is there a way to determine what gifts I have?"

Sharpclaw flipped the parchment over and Harry could see a large list of text.

Harry James of the House of Potter,

Abilities:

Mind Arts, 100% blocked

Healing Magic, 20% blocked

Parsel Tongue, 80% blocked

Transfiguration, 50% blocked

Charms, 40% blocked

Runic Magic, 100% blocked

Necromantic Magic, 100% blocked

Power level:

1000, 65% blocked

As Harry, the Flamels and Sharpclaw read the list, everyone felt stunned for different reasons. Harry was dumbfounded by the number of abilities that were listed even though he didn't know what some of them were. The Flamels were amazed at how well Harry survived despite those blocks and were shocked that Albus would do such a thing. Even though they knew that Harry was powerful, they didn't realize the amount of raw power he had at his disposal. Sharpclaw was also surprised at the amount of gifts bestowed on the young man by magic and he was speechless at the amount of raw power his client contained.

"What is runic magic, mind arts, and necromantic magic?"

"Runic magic has to deal with using runes for rituals or to enhance one's body. Necromantic magic deals with reanimating dead things or prolonging living organisms and the mind arts deals with blocking one's mind from intrusion and gaining access to another person's mind. Even though you have these gifts, it doesn't mean that you will be a master in those areas of magic overnight. You will need to work hard and dedicate a lot of time in order to become a master in the areas you have chosen. It just means that you will have a natural intuition when using those branches of magic and as for healing and Necromantic magic, you will be able to access those areas subconsciously. For example, you healed yourself without realizing it when you were injured."

Harry nodded in understanding. Before he could ask another question, Sharpclaw spoke up.

"I would recommend healing all the injuries and removing all the blocks before you wear the ring because the ring might see you as unfit which means that there is a high probability that the ring might not bond to you."

Harry agreed

Sharpclaw rang a bell and several seconds later, Griphook appeared, framed in the doorway looking curious. He spoke to Griphook quickly in Gobbledegook and a few moments later, the young goblin disappeared once again.

"I have asked Griphook to retrieve one of our healers to examine you."

Harry sat there silently worrying about what was going to happen. However, he did not panic because he knew it wasn't going to help him. He also didn't want to lose control of his magic, so once again he took deep breaths. His breathing exercise and his thoughts were interrupted by the knock of the door.

"Come in." Called Sharpclaw.

An extremely old goblin entered the office carrying a healer's bag which contain many potions and tools.

"Good morning healer Flitwood. Thank you for coming on such short notice. Mr. Potter requires your services. We found out that there have been numerous magical blocks placed on him." Said Sharpclaw

"Thanks for seeing me Healer Flitwood. Are you by any chance related to Professor Flitwick?" Inquired Harry.

Flitwood smiled. "Indeed I am related to Professor Flitwick. I am his cousin. Just looking at you, I can tell that you are malnourished so we will have to do something about that."

Flitwood took out a translucent bottle containing green coloured liquid and once again, Harry had to squeeze 2 drops of blood into the potion. The liquid hissed but did not change colour. Sharpclaw handed Flitwood a piece of parchment and once again text appeared as the concoction contacted the paper.

Harry James of the house of Potter

Injuries

Horcrux contained in scar

Simple myopia,

Brittle bone structure

Basilisk venom

Flitwood, Sharpclaw and the Flamels looked horrified after reading the list. Harry knew that he wasn't in the best condition but judging by their expression, he knew that there was going to be bad news.

"Merlin's beard! I can't believe Tom created Horcrux's." Nicholas stated in a shocked voice. "It is the vilest piece of magic imaginable. A horcrux is a piece of a soul contained in an object. You have to murder an innocent being in cold blood in order to create one. "

"So I have a piece of Tom's soul in my scar?" Harry asked sounding scared.

"Yes. However, the good news is that it can be removed. In fact, everything that's on the list is curable." Flitwood responded with a smile.

Harry sighed in relief.

"Let's get started then."

Everyone followed Flitwood who lead them down several twisting passages. Some of the passageways contained tracks while others did not. At last, they stopped in front of an ornately carved door depicting Goblins standing around a tomb.

"This is a ritual room. We will be using this to remove the Horcrux and the magical blocks." Flitwood stated. "Only the patient and the goblins participating in the ritual are allowed into the chamber."

Flitwood opened the door and Harry could see torches on mounted on brackets. The torches casted an eerie glow over the area. The walls were made out of stone and it was completely bare except for a pedestal in the centre of the chamber. He entered the ritual room feeling apprehensive but it was slightly relieved when Perenelle smiled encouragingly at him.

The Flamels were lead to an observation room with comfortable chairs and a window that was charmed to see 1 way only.

Many goblins involved in the ritual filed into the chamber carrying scrolls and protective equipment. They drew a circle around the altar and indicated for Harry to climb onto it. Then they immobilized his body using ropes and shackles. Once all the preparations were made, the room was sealed and the ritual began. The goblins began chanting in their guttural language. As the chant progressed, everyone could feel the presence of magic thickening and smothering them like a heavy blanket wrapped around them from head to foot. During the crescendo of the chant, a black mist burst out of the scar emitting a shrill scream. The Horcrux tried to reattach itself to someone or something. However, the wards on the room was able to leach the magic out of it until it vanished. The goblins removed Harry's bonds as the chanting died down several minutes later.

Harry climbed down from the altar and stretched his limbs. He could hear and feel several of his joints popping.

"No wonder we were called urgently to perform a ritual. I guess the reason for the Horcrux removal has to do with your dark lord." A young goblin stated.

Harry nodded.

The goblins reconvened in the chamber to perform the block removal ritual. Once again, they drew a circle and indicated for him to climb onto the altar. The chant began in a soft tone and grew in volume as the ritual progressed. This time, the magic that was thick in the air came from Harry himself rather than from the environment. As the blocks slowly dissolved, the glow emitted from his body continued to intensify. Eventually it became so bright that the Goblins had to wear protective gear to protect their eyes. They also donned armor knowing that once all the blocks were released, the magic in the room would be too oppressive for them to withstand for long. An hour later, all the blocks were removed and magic was running wild in the chamber. All the goblins were in awe at the amount of magic their patient contained. Eventually, Harry's magic died down and the goblins were able to unseal the chamber.

As Harry came out of the ritual room, Nicholas and Perenelle rapidly approached him looking relieved and concerned.

"How do you feel dear?"

"I feel absolutely brilliant! It's like a weight that I didn't know I was carrying has lifted."

Before heading back to his account manager's office, he applied his glamour with permission from the goblins. He noticed that he was able to do the spell without any effort.

"It looks like it didn't take any effort at all to cast the spell. Also the glamour appears to be stronger." Nicholas observed.

Harry agreed enthusiastically. "We'll have to test the strengths of my spells tomorrow."

Everyone entered Sharpclaw's office once more and took the same seats as before. Flitwood pulled out 7 small bottles of a bluish potion and placed them on the desk.

"These are goblin versions of the nutrient potions. They are more potent than the human version. Take one of these a day and you will be at the size a teenager at your age should be."

Harry took the bottles and placed them in his pocket.

As for your Simple myopia, the healing portion of your magic will take care of it.

"Thank you Healer Flitwood for removing the Horcrux, the magical blocks and healing my malnutrition." Harry said gratefully.

"It was my pleasure to serve someone who is as polite as you. You are even more polite than most of the goblins I work with." He stated in amusement.

"Now all that's left to do is bond with the Potter ring." Sharpclaw snapped his fingers and a mahogany box with the Potter crest carved onto the lid appeared on the desk.

Harry carefully opened the box and gently picked up the ornately decorated ring with the Potter crest on it. Then he slipped it onto his index finger. He felt the magic scanning him and after what felt like hours but in reality only seconds, warmth filled his body and the ring adjusted itself to fit his finger.

"Congratulations Lord Potter." Said Sharpclaw. "What do you want to do with your trust fund?"

"Please move all the money to my family vault and close down the trust fund vault."

Sharpclaw nodded. "Is there anything else I could help you with?"

"Yes. I would like to know if there are any debts that I have to fulfill."

Sharpclaw smiled. "The Potters have always been excellent at repaying debts. There are no debts you need to repay."

Harry sighed in relief. "Well, I believe there isn't anything urgent we need to take care of." He stood up followed by the Flamels. "Thank you for helping me with everything."

"You are very welcome Lord Potter. If you need anything just send me an owl. By the way, here is a Gringotts bag. Just state the amount you require and the correct amount of coins will appear in it. Just put a drop of your blood on it and it will be permanently bound to you. It ensures that no one else can use it."

"Thank you Sharpclaw." He and the Flamels left the office and found their way back to the front doors of the bank.

"It's 6:00 P.M." Nicholas stated glancing at his mechanical watch. "What do you wish to do? We can have dinner at the Leaky cauldron and then continue taking care of business or we can return to the mansion, have dinner and come back tomorrow."

"I would like to finish our business today if that's okay with both of you." He glanced questioningly at Nicholas and Perenelle.

They both nodded reassuringly.

"In that case we should go and get some food. I'm sure all of us are hungry."

In response to that statement, Harry's stomach began growling. He blushed in embarrassment.


	6. Chapter 6

I would like to thank everyone for adding my story to their favourites and following it. I also appreciate all the reviews. Happy new years!

Disclaimer:

The Harry Potter universe and all the characters in it belong to J. K. Rowling.

Chapter 6 Shopping

When Harry and the Flamels finished their dinner at the Leaky Cauldron, they reentered Diagon Alley through the archway once again.

"Where should we go first?" Inquired Harry.

Why don't we first shop for clothes? Suggested Nicholas.

Harry could see that the alley was becoming empty as they walked to Madam Malkin's. As he approached the shop, he saw several pages from the Daily Profit lying on the ground fluttering slightly from the light breeze. Normally, he would have just ignored it but as the wind pushed a page back, he saw his face smiling back at him. He picked it up and began to read the article that was underneath the picture.

Truths and Lies

By Elizabeth Perks

For the past 8 months, we have provided all our faithful readers details regarding the prestigious Triwizard Tournament held at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Unfortunately this will be the last article discussing the champions and the tasks. This week, we are publishing articles about the aftermath of the tournament.

If you have been following the events, you have undoubtedly heard that Harry Potter also known as "The Boy Who Lived", won the competition due to his high score and his successful retrieval of the cup. You would have also heard that there was a complication in the final task which caused Cedric Diggory to lose his life. According to Mr. Potter and Headmaster Dumbledore, 'He Who Must Not Be Named' has returned and it was the dark lord who murdered Mr. Diggory's son. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get a hold of Mr. Potter or Headmaster Dumbledore for an interview. When we asked what Minister Fudge thought, he had this to say:

"The Ministry of Magic would like to reassure everyone that 'You Know Who' has not returned."

Are Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore telling the truth or are they telling lies? Keep an open mind and your eyes peeled for evidence to determine the truth.

For more information about Harry Potter, go to page 5.

For more information about Albus Dumbledore, go to page 6.

For more information about the Triwizard Tournament, go to page 7.

For more information about Cornelius Fudge, go to page 8.

Harry tossed the newspaper aside and sighed in annoyance.

"Look on the bright side. At least it wasn't Rita Skeeter. Her speculations would have involved you killing Cedric Diggory. That reporter has also encouraged the public to figure out the truth for themselves." Said Nicholas.

"I guess. I just want people to prepare for Voldemort's return."

"I understand my dear. I really do. Unfortunately due to politics, there is not much we can do for now. All we can do is prepare you for the upcoming fight." While Parenelle was saying this, she patted his arm sympathetically.

They stepped into the shop and Harry could see racks of different styles of clothing which came in several different shapes and sizes. He could see dresses, robes, and even invisibility cloaks. Before any of the shop assistants offered their services to them, Madam Malkin hurried out of the back room and headed straight towards them.

"Mr. Mrs. Carter! How may I be of assistance?"

Harry was confused for a moment before he realized that she was speaking to Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel.

"Hello Madam Malkin. It's very nice to see you again. Today, it is our son James Carter who requires your assistance." Nicholas said charmingly.

Madam Malkin glanced at Harry before she beckoned for them to follow her. When they arrived at her office, she quickly ushered them in to the room before she closed the door securely and activated her wards.

Harry thought at first that the office was plain. However, when he examined the room in greater detail, he noticed that the room was painted in several shades of yellow and that there were many hooks spaced evenly on three of the four walls. On his left, he saw a plain wooden table with large sheets of fabric laid out on top of it and in front of him, there was an ancient desk with badgers carved on the sides.

"It's safe to remove your glamours now." She informed them.

Nicholas and Perenelle waved their wand and their glamours disappeared instantly. Before Harry could remove his glamour, Nicholas gently grasped his wrist.

"Allow me to remove it for you. Your wand still has the trace on it." Said Nicholas.

Harry nodded and with another wave of Nicholas's wand, his glamour disappeared instantly.

"Oh my! Mr. Potter or should I say Lord Potter." She glanced at the ring resting on his index finger as she said this. "I didn't realize you knew Nick and Penny."

Harry blushed and said, "I'm their apprentice and please call me Harry."

She looked surprised before she smiled brightly. "Congratulations Harry. Now, I'm assuming you need a few robes with the Potter crest on it?"

"Actually, I need a full wardrobe with the Potter crest on the formal robes."

"Very well. Do you wish to browse our selection of muggle clothing while you wait for your robes to be completed?" Inquired Madam Malkin.

"Sure." Said Harry.

Madam Malkin pulled a lever protruding from the wall and to his astonishment, the two panels slid back and a passageway appeared in front of him.

"Beyond that passageway, you'll find a large selection of muggle clothing. If you need to come back, just pull the lever on the wall. It looks exactly like the one here."

Harry walked through the passageway and found himself standing in a large rectangular room full of racks and shelves full of clothing. He could see jeans, t-shirts and dresses hanging on racks while an assortment of swim trunks, jackets and long-sleeved clothing were laid neatly on shelves lining the walls.

For the next hour, Harry grabbed a variety of t-shirts, long sleeves shirts, pants, underwear and jackets which he thought would fit him. Once he gathered all of the clothing he wanted to try, he went into a changing room near the back of the room and donned each piece of clothing in front of a mirror. The colours he chose were primarily black, gray and blue. To his surprise, he found that all of his clothing looked good on him. Also, he found it pleasant that the clothing felt comfortable and snug.

Meanwhile, Nicholas and Perenelle were having an important discussion in Madam Malkin's office.

"Please tell us the feelings and opinions of the shop keepers in terms of Voldemort returning." Said Nicholas.

"A lot of them are scared that Voldemort is returning but they believe Lord Potter. I believe that when the time comes to fight, they will support him." Madam Malkin stated as she worked on Harry's robes.

"Excellent. You say that a lot of them believe Harry so which shop keepers do not?"

"The owners of Slug & Jiggers Apothecary, The Daily Prophet's main office, and Twilfitt and Tatting's."

Nicholas sighed. "Why am I not surprised."

"Have you seen any individuals sympathetic to Voldemort's ideals or known Death Eaters entering your shop?" Inquired Perenelle.

"No. Not yet. It's mostly elderly people who come by to either chat or purchase their clothes. I imagine that they don't want to deal with the crowds.

"Well, please let us know if you see people who are known Death Eaters or who believe in Voldemort's cause." Said Nicholas.

"And please observe them to the best of your ability. We are mostly interested in their interactions." Added Perenelle.

"Understood." Said Madam Malkin. "Are you going to tell Lord Potter about the spy network and the support that he has?"

"Yes we will tell him soon. We need to teach him Occlumency first. Unlike Albus, we don't plan on holding any valuable information which we know would help him in the war." Perenelle stated bitterly.

Nicholas wrapped a comforting arm around Perenelle's shoulder. A low rumbling noise could be heard throughout the office. Several seconds later, Harry emerged from the passageway carrying an armful of clothes.

"Would you like the standard charms on all those clothes?" Asked Madam Malkin.

"Sure. By the way, why are the muggle clothes stored in another room?"

"The muggle clothes offend the pure bloods. I would lose a lot of business if they saw that kind of clothing." She stated sadly.

"That's a shame." Said Harry.

Madam Malkin nodded and levitated the pile of clothes over to the table with her wand and began to rapidly mutter a string of spells. A minute later, she stopped and directed the clothes into a bag which she produced from a drawer inside her desk.

"The robes are complete. I just need you to press your ring here, here, here and here." While she was speaking, she pointed to the front and back areas of each robe. While Harry pressed his ring onto those spots, he noticed that the designs of the robe fit the crest perfectly and his respect for her profession grew.

Harry smiled and said, "The robes look amazing."

Madam Malkin returned his smile with one of her own. "Thank you Harry."

With a flick of her wand, the robes became neatly folded. She pulled another bag from the drawer and Once again, she waved her wand like a conductor's baton and directed the clothes into the bag.

"Here you are, dear." Madam Malkin handed him two large bags.

"Thank you." Harry said graciously.

As they exited Madam Malkin's store and headed towards Ollivander's wand shop, a thought popped into Harry's head.

"Nick, how come you didn't say anything about tracking charms and allowed me to use my wand to cast the glamour when we were in Gringotts?"

"Good question. Gringotts has similar wards that are at Flamel mansion. Some of those wards prevent the trace from activating."

"Speaking of glamours, we forgot to put your glamour back on." Quickly, she whipped out her wand and cast the glamour on him. "Hopefully, no one has seen you." Said Perenelle sounding worried.

Unfortunately, one of the order members saw Harry and instantly went to the nearest fireplace to contact Dumbledore.

As Harry and the Flamels stepped into Ollivander's wand shop, Harry could sense the magic thick in the air. Instantly, Ollivander appeared behind the counter.

"Lord Potter, Lord and Lady Flamel. What brings all of you here?"

"Mr. Ollivander. I require a custom made wand." Said Harry.

"Very well. Normally, I would not do this unless the customer has a license to carry another wand. However, I see the mark of destiny on you. Before we go to my workshop, please hand over your wand so I can remove the trace."

Harry pulled his wand from his front pocket and handed it over to him. Ollivander pulled his own wand from his holster and pointed it at Harry's wand. He softly murmured a spell and suddenly, Harry's wand began to glow brightly. It was bright enough to illuminate all the boxes stacked neatly on the shelves. A moment later, it faded and the occupants of the room could no longer see all the boxes very clearly. He slipped his wand into his holster and handed Harry's wand back.

"I would recommend getting a dueling holster for that wand. Now, please follow me." Said Ollivander.

They followed him back into a large rectangular room with shelves setup in wide isles which held ingredients for wands. Some of the materials were contained in jars while others were stored in wooden boxes.

"Close your eyes and feel the pull of the materials. When you feel something drawing you to a certain direction, point to where you think it is coming from and I will go and retrieve the materials for you." Instructed Ollivander.

Harry Nodded and closed his eyes. At first he couldn't feel anything but as he stood there like a statue, he gradually felt several sensations. He felt like he was in a spider web and there were a couple of strands connected to him. He knew that those strands would lead him to the materials so He pointed to where he felt those invisible strands. Ollivander began to grab the materials off the shelves. As Ollivander brought the materials to him, he could feel each component resonate within his body. Harry opened his eyes and saw that the materials he pointed to were setup on a table close by and to his surprise, Ollivander was already muttering to himself.

Feeling Harry's curious gaze on him, Ollivander said, "Lord Potter. The components you have chosen are very unique because instead of having only 1 core, your wand will have 2 cores and those cores are opposites of each other. Also, the wood that you have chosen is not very pliable."

"What are the materials I have chosen?" Inquired Harry.

"You have chosen maple as the wood. As for the cores, you have chosen dementor skin and phoenix feather. This will be a very powerful wand. It will be able to handle dark and light magic. Also, it will be very challenging to create." Ollivander replied in an excited tone.

Throughout their conversation, Nicholas and Perenelle exchanged a smile and thought to themselves, 'It seems that we will finally have a gray lord.'

"How much is it for this wand?" Asked Harry.

"70 galleons because the materials are very rare. You may pay once I have created the wand." Replied Ollivander.

Harry Nodded. "When will the wand be complete?"

"It shall be finished tomorrow afternoon."

Ollivander gathered all the materials and began to mutter to himself once again. Taking it as a dismissal, Harry and the Flamels returned to the front of the shop intending to head back to the Leaky Cauldron. However, Perenelle saw that there were many order members patrolling the area including Alastor Moody who would be able to see through the glamours with his fake eye.

"Why don't we ask Ollivander if we can use his fireplace." Suggested Perenelle.

Returning to the back room, Nicholas asked Ollivander if they could use his fireplace. Without looking up from his work, Ollivander gave his permission. They grabbed a pinch of floo powder that was resting in a pot on top of the mantle and with three cries of "Flamel mansion," they disappear from the shop.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I've been busy with exams and life. Once again I appreciate everyone who is following the story. I have no plans of abandoning this story so don't worry about that.

Disclaimer:

The Harry Potter universe and all the characters in it belong to J. K. Rowling.

Chapter 7

Training Part 1

As Harry slept, his magic and the potions that he took just before he went to sleep, began to repair the physical damage done to his body. First, it scouted out the injured areas. Then it removed scarred tissues and regenerated new ones. Once that was done, it was guided by the formula of the potion to ensure that the areas that were damaged were properly healed. Over on the other side of the mansion, Perenelle tapped a sequence of runes to activate the time ward.

At 5:30 in the morning, a house elf named Timmy popped into Harry's room and gleefully dumped a bucket of cold water on his head. Harry sprang out of bed with a cry and glared at Timmy while shivering and dripping water onto the carpet.

"Wha'wha'what d'did y'you do t'that for?"

Hiding a smile, Timmy said, "I'm sorry sir. Master Nicholas wishes you to be ready for your first lesson."

Grumbling a bit at the early time but feeling excited, he quickly got dressed in dry clothes and found Nicholas waiting for him in the same recreation room where the discussions about Dumbledore, Voldemort and his friend's betrayal took place.

"Good morning Harry. Did you have a good sleep?"

""I did until that house elf dumped freezing water on my head." Grumbled Harry.

Nicholas's eyes twinkled with amusement. "Well, that made you wide awake and ready to learn. Didn't it?"

Harry nodded reluctantly.

"Now. What do you know about Occlumency and Legilimency?"

"Nothing really."

"Occlumency is the art of preventing someone from accessing your thoughts while Legilimency is the art of accessing someone's thoughts. These two skills are called the mind arts and they are difficult to learn which is why they are considered rare skills. Eventually you'll be a master in this field of magic but now, we just expect you to get the basics. You have an aptitude for this branch of magic so it shouldn't be too challenging for you. The first step in using any mind arts is being able to meditate. To do this, you need to sit comfortably, relax, and clear your mind."

"How do I clear my mind?"

"There are several methods that you can use. You can listen to your breathing, repeat a word mentally or out loud, or you can even imagine a safe place if thoughts keep on intruding. The goal is to be able to get rid of the chatter in your mind." Responded Nicholas.

Harry sat down on the blue sofa and began relaxing his muscles. As the tension slowly left him, he closed his eyes and listened to his breathing. He noticed the reverberations of the room, the faint breathing of his mentor and the slight creak of the couch. He knew that there were too many thoughts running around in his head still so he began to repeat the word 'magic' in his head. That caused memories of Hogwarts and spells to appear so he imagined a place where he felt safe. A replica of the cupboard under the stairs appeared in his mind and at last, his head was clear of all thoughts.

"Very good."

Nicholas's voice startled him out of his trance.

"Before I show you how to add protections to your mind, you need to work on clearing your thoughts and going to the representation of your mind which in this case, is your cupboard, as fast as possible."

"Wait! You used Legilimency on me?"

"Yes. I used Legilimency to enter your mind but I did not access your thoughts. I only observed your surface thoughts." Predicting the question that Harry was going to ask next, Nicholas continued his lecture. "The difference between regular thoughts and surface thoughts is that regular thoughts are more detailed while surface thoughts are like flies. They are less detailed and they can appear and disappear very quickly."

Harry sighed and let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding.

"If it makes you feel better, Penny and I can swear a magical oath not to divulge any of your information." Said Nicholas.

"That's alright. You already knew a lot about me before and haven't used any of your information to harm me." Replied Harry.

"Thank you for your trust. I know how difficult it is to trust people." Nicholas murmured the last part quietly to himself. "Anyhow, practice clearing your mind and accessing your mindscape until you're able to do it very quickly. I bet you're starving. Let's go get some breakfast."

As Harry arrived at the dining room, he could smell the delicious aroma of food. He saw that Perenelle was waiting for them at the table reading a muggle newspaper.

"Good morning dear. How was your first lesson?"

"It was alright. It took me a bit of time to clear my mind and access my mindscape." Responded Harry.

"You'll find it easier with more practice." Perenelle responded in a reassuring tone.

Harry nodded. "Anything interesting in the news?"

"There are a few missing muggles and the victims that were found later died of inexplicable causes according to the reporter." Perenelle responded somberly. "My guess is that Voldemort is killing muggles."

"Enough of this depressing talk. Once you're done eating, please go to potion lab A." said Nicholas.

A few minutes later, Harry set down his fork and headed out of the kitchen and into a long winding hallway with paintings and stone statues. Some paintings moved while others stayed still. The ones that stayed still were paintings made by famous muggles like Federico Zuccaro who was famous for painting a portrait of Queen Elizabeth I in 1592. The statues depicted warriors and reminded him of the statues in Hogwarts. Eventually, he arrived at potion lab A which was a large well-lit room with tables full of bubbling cauldrons.

Harry found an empty work station and began to setup the equipment he had grabbed from the shelf on the left side of the room. As he was about to put the cauldron over the fire, he had a gut feeling that something wasn't right. He set the cauldron aside and removed his wand from his holster and murmured a simple poison detection charm. To his astonishment, the cauldron in front of his eyes turned a light shade of blue and he realized that it was poisoned. He had no idea what kind of poison it was so he decided to grab another cauldron. As he turned to face the shelf, he saw Nicholas standing behind him with a smile.

"Well done! As you've realized, not all the equipment in this room are clean. I did this on purpose because I wanted to see if you would follow proper preparation procedures."

"And your way was to poison me?" Said Harry.

"Relax. That was only Doxy poison." Seeing his blank look, he sighed and continued to explain. "If you ingested that poison, you would have only felt nauseous and eventually you would have vomited it out." Replied Nicholas reassuringly. "Besides, I'm sure you would never make that mistake again once you've experienced it the first time."

Harry nodded grudgingly.

"Now then. Let's go through the list of potions you have produced in the past and talk about how you can improve upon them as well as the theory behind them."

For the next 1 and a half hours, Harry brewed 3 potions on the list and Nicholas lectured on the basic theories. At the end of the lesson, Harry realized that he learned more about potions from Nicholas then he did with Snape in the last four years.

The next lesson he had was transfiguration with Perenelle. He found her in the room beside the potions lab putting an assortment of items on a long wooden table. Seeing an empty chair across from her, he sat down and examined the items on the table with interest. He could see hats, gloves, scraps of metal and scraps of paper scattered throughout the table.

"I hope you are not too tired to do transfiguration, my dear because we will be looking at transfiguring different materials as well as the theory behind it."

"I should be fine." Replied Harry.

"Very good. I want you to transfigure all of these items into whatever you like and while you are doing that, I want you to write down your observations. If you cannot transfigure something, that is fine. Just write down why you could not change it."

For the next hour, he picked up objects on the table and transfigured them into different animals such as cats, FROGS, snakes, and lions. Although he had no trouble changing the shape of the objects, he found some transfigurations more difficult because some required more energy compared to others. For example, he found wood to be easy and steel to be hard to change. When he reached the last object he barely felt drained and without realizing it, he was emitting a glow every time he cast a spell.

"How do you feel now, my dear?"

"I feel fine and I still sense a lot of magic in my core."

Nodding, she inspected all the transfigured objects with a critical eye.

"It is very impressive that you can transfigure all of these objects without feeling any drain but you are using way too much magic. Some of the characteristics of the objects look harsh and in some cases even distorted. Take a look at the lion, the mane OF HAIR looks more like jagged wires, the fur looks very distorted and …"

For the next hour and a half, Parenelle took apart each of his transfigurations and explained to him how he could improve. At the end of the lesson, she asked him to read up on more advanced theories.

For the next lesson, Harry was sent back to his room to change into some exercise clothes and was asked to meet Nicholas in the weight room. When he arrived, he saw that there was a mixture of weight lifting equipment for every part of his body spread out throughout the room. On the southeast corner, there was a stereo blasting rock music from the eighties.

"Ah. Here you are." Yelled Nicholas. "For the next hour and a half, you will be doing physical exercises. Even though magic is powerful, it won't do any good if you don't have any stamina and before you talk about potions and strength enhancing spells, they are only temporary and you end up feeling even more exhausted when it wears off. Now let me show you how to use the rest of the equipment."

When Harry was tested on his physical strength, he only used a few pieces of machinery as well as free weights so for the next 15 minutes, he was shown how to use the rest of the equipment. He exercised for the next hour only taking 5 minute breaks. When it was lunchtime, he ran back to his room to shower and change into fresh clothes before he ran to the dining room.

"If you can still run after exercising heavily then you aren't working hard enough." Perenelle said teasingly.

"Well my body aches all over but since the food smells so good, I guess my body was willing to provide enough energy to allow me to run here." Responded Harry.

He piled his plate high with rice, beef, and beans before he dug in. Even though he felt starved, he had manners. The rate at which he ate was control and he never talked with his mouth full. When he was finished, he was directed to another classroom Full of tables and chairs. He didn't know what he was going to study next so he waited for Nicholas or Perenelle to come before he moved any of the chairs and tables.

A few minutes later, Perenelle arrived carrying an arm full of books. Knowing that the lesson would be academic, he levitated two chairs and a table into the centre of the room.

"Thank you, my dear. These are all of books you will be studying for ancient runes. Before we dive into runes, let me demonstrate the power of them."

Perenelle took a piece of chalk from her pocket and began to draw runes onto the back wall of the room. She deftly drew ten major runes and linked them to twenty smaller runes. Every shape was symmetrical and sharp. By the time she was done, the wall resembled a mosaic.

"What I have just created is a ward scheme with five powerful wards. The first one does the following:" She channeled a small amount of magic into a tiny circular rune and one fifth of the runes lit up before the entire wall became transparent. "As you can see, this ward allows you to look through walls which is useful when defending or developing a battle strategy. You can see out but anyone on the other side cannot see you." When she activated the next set of rules, it glowed just like the previous set but Harry couldn't see any physical changes to the wall. "This ward allows you to walk through the wall. Go ahead and try."

Tentatively, he walked through where the wall was supposed to be and into the next room. He moved back and forth between rooms marveling at the fact that he couldn't feel anything at all.

The next set of runes she activated made him forget that the wall existed. Seeing his confusion, she said, "The wall can be found at Flamel Mansion."

"Fidelius?"

"Yes very similar. However, this uses runes while the Fidelius that you know is a charm. Both methods are very powerful and complex however, if you use runes, you are given more flexibility in terms of being able to add features to the ward. For the next two sets, you will have to move back a tad."

Once he moved back a few steps, she activated the next cluster of runes. To his surprise, the wall groaned and exploded into thousands of pieces. Once the dust and debris stopped falling, he saw big and small pieces of the wall scattered throughout the floor.

Seeing Harry's amazed expression, she said, "That was not the impressive part. Now watch."

She reached out with her magic and located certain pieces. She sent a bit of magic to each piece and before his eyes, the wall reassembled itself again.

"How did that work?"

"There are certain runes that are designed to do repairs. However, those runes will not work if they are broken so I have added a cluster of smaller runes that are responsible for repairing the runes before the repairing runes fix the wall."

"That's amazing!"

"Yes. The last two sets of rules were created by me for my mastery in this branch of magic. Now let us get started…"

For the next hour, Harry memorized 4 sets of basic Latin runes and learned how to apply them practically. The runes he knew allowed him to control lighting and simple illusions. By the end of the lesson, he was able to create two rune clusters that allowed him to illuminate the room and control the brightness. Perenelle did not let him try them yet because he did not have enough control over his magic but Instead of feeling disheartened, he felt like he accomplished a lot. According to Perenelle, they went over two weeks of the Hogwarts curriculum in that hour.

"Very good, my dear. I want you to figure out what these two sets of runes can do tonight. Make notes on them and we will discuss them in our next lesson. Also, you will get a chance to try out the runes you created today."

The next lesson he had was with Nicholas. He found him in the recreational room once again relaxing on the couch.

"How did you find your lesson's with Penny?"

"Challenging, exhausting and very interesting." Responded Harry.

"Excellent. In this lesson, we will work on your control of magic. When those blocks were removed, your magic became an ocean whereas before it was a small river. Now you might be wondering why you need to learn control when you have an abundance of magic at your disposal, enough to decimate most of your opponents with brute strength. Well, there will be situations when brute strength will not be enough. If you are tearing down wards without systematically unraveling them but with brute strength, you will eventually run out of magic because there is a limit to the amount of magic that you can get and getting magic from your surroundings can be slow and dangerous. Also, some wards are explosive so if you don't unravel them, they can detonate like a bomb. Those wards require minimal magic and a delicate touch. In fact, most complex pieces of magic do not require a lot of power. They require finesse. If you learn to control your power, you will be able to get things done quicker."

Harry Nodded.

"Now, I want you to go into your mindscape and examine your magic by forming spells with your wand. Don't release it. Just examine how it flows through you and how it feels. Each spell has a different feel."

Harry sat down on the sofa and relaxed his muscles while listening to his breathing, heartbeat and the ambience in the room. Eventually the tension faded and he found himself back in his mindscape which was represented by his cupboard. He didn't exam his mindscape closely when he first cleared his mind but now that he needed to locate his magic, he was able to see cracks and faded patches on the walls. Mentally willing himself through one of the cracks, he found himself outside the cupboard looking in. All around him was darkness and in the distance there was only a pinprick of light. He told his mind to move towards it and instantly, he found himself facing an enormous ball of light. In awe and also cautious, he tentatively touched the ball of light with a mental projection of his hands. Nothing extraordinary occurred. No sparks, strange voices or an overload of information. The only thing he felt was a deeper connection to his magic. Feeling the weight of his wand in his physical hand, he tentatively lifted it up and went through the motions of casting a levitation charm without intending to release it. He could see a thin stream of magic detaching itself from the ball and feel it running down his arm to his hand, seeping through his skin. Experimentally, he tried to reduce the stream of magic by imagining how it would look if there was less energy going down his arm. To his surprise, the stream of magic became smaller and he could feel only a very thin trickle going down his arm.

"Now, try increasing the strength of the charm." Nicholas said calmly.

Harry imagined a thicker stream of magic entering his arm and he could feel the strength of the spell increasing.

"Good. Keep in mind how that levitation charm feels and drop your wand and try to cast that spell with your hands."

He released the spell, dropped his wand and tried to recall the feel of that charm. When he felt it, he pushed a bit of magic down his arm which then seeped through the skin of his palm. To his surprise, when it exited his hands, the spell completely dissipated. He worked on this for half an hour before he was able to cast a very weak levitation charm.

"Well done" Said Nicholas. "What have you noticed with wandless magic?"

"It's definitely easier to use a wand and for such a simple spell, I had to use a lot of energy to make it work. Even then, it was very weak."

""You are absolutely correct. That's why not many people learn this skill. That's enough for today. You can now go relax.

Harry smiled and wearily trudged back to his room to take a nap. When it was time for dinner and he was still asleep, Perenelle sent Binky to retrieve him. Harry wasn't very talkative at dinner since he was still tired but by the time he was finished, he felt he had enough energy to work on everything that was covered that day. Just before he went to sleep, he organized the information in his mind and when his eyes began to close of their own accord, he wondered what he would learn the next day.

A/N: Thanks for reading. Please review. For those of you who are wondering when Daphne will be in the story, she will make her first appearance next chapter.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: As I said, I'm not going to abandon the story. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer:

The Harry Potter universe and all the characters in it belong to J. K. Rowling.

Chapter 8 Training Part Two

When Harry's alarm began to vibrate, he woke up slowly and groaned. He did his morning routine still half asleep and eventually trudged his way into the recreation room.

"Good morning Harry. It's about time you woke up."

"Sorry Nick. My muscles are a bit sore."

"That's good. If they weren't, then we aren't working them hard enough. Now let's start off with the first exercise I gave you yesterday."

"Moving quickly in and out of my mindscape?"

"That's the one." Said Nicholas.

Harry closed his eyes and in under a minute, he was in his mindscape. He could see a lot of his thoughts compartmentalized. When he wanted to access the materials covered in yesterday's lessons, he could do so easily.

"I see that a lot of your thoughts are arranged in a systematic manner. Well done." Said Nicholas. Did you have to figure out the process of compartmentalizing or did it just happen naturally?

"It just happened naturally. I felt I needed to shift my thoughts so I followed my instincts."

"Excellent! I want you to work on this exercise for the next couple of minutes. Then I want you to continue to organize your thoughts. You've already sorted your thoughts from the last two days. You are off to a very good start."

Harry went into his mindscape and quickly located the thoughts that were organized. They appeared to him as dots that were displayed in uniform rows and columns. Following his instincts, he pulled his thoughts into his mindscape through the cracks and began viewing them. He saw himself doing chores, saying farewell to his former friends, his train ride home, and the last several lessons of his fourth year. Once he finished viewing each thought, he moved them around until it felt right. Eventually, they ended up in neat rows and columns.

"I think you've organized enough. It's time to get some breakfast, my boy." Said Nicholas.

When Harry walked into the dining room, he could see that the table was piled high with an assortment of breakfast foods. He grabbed a plate and began filling it up. By the time he was done, his plate looked like a tiny volcano.

"Good morning, Harry. I am glad you are eating more. The potions and food are already doing its magic. You are already putting on a little weight." Said Perenelle.

"Thanks Penny. I haven't really noticed though."

"Here." Perenelle conjured a mirror in front of him which hovered in the air. "You can see that you have a little more fat."

Harry examined his reflection for a few moments before he nodded.

"So today, you will be working on a few different subjects." Said Nicholas.

Harry looked surprised. "I thought that we would be working on the stuff that was covered yesterday. I mean when I found you in the recreational room and you had me do the same exercises as yesterday, I just assumed we were going to be doing the same subjects today."

"The only subjects you will be practicing every day are Occlumency, physical education, and magic control. For the rest of the subjects, you will be alternating between them each day." Responded Nicholas.

"Alright. I guess that makes sense."

When he was finished, The plates disappeared and he was directed to wait for Nicholas in a rectangular room full of desks and chairs. On one of the shorter walls, there was a chalkboard filled with strange symbols. Being curious, Harry walked up to the board and examined it closely. It looked to him like they were runes but he could also see numbers.

"Interesting, is it not?" Said Nicholas.

Harry was so absorbed by it that he didn't hear Nicholas come into the room and when he heard him talk, he flinched. "Oh, um, yeah. It's interesting. I don't know what it is though."

"Can you not guess?" Said Nicholas in an excited tone.

"Well, I can see that there are runes but I can also see that there are numbers. I think it's a diagram of some sort."

"Yes. It's a diagram. More specifically, it's a spell diagram and the way that it's created is most unique. Usually, many spell crafters draw this diagram before they create the spell but the way Penny and I approach a new idea for a spell is different. We shape pure magic into our ideas and then we work backwards and dissect the piece of magic and add some triggers so they can be used easily. To help us with this, we shape our spell and a lovely enchantment on the chalkboard creates the diagram for us.

"Wow! I've never heard of this before. It sounds really cool." Said Harry.

"Yes it's quite ingenious if I do say so myself. Anyhow, we should get started with this subject. For the next hour or so, I will be teaching you ten charms. It will be your job to master each of them for next class. These are all spells you will find on your NEWTs."

Nicholas taught him two stronger poison detection spells, five illusions to fool each sense, and three spells to control multiple instruments. Nicholas showed his mastery of each spell by demonstrating it non-verbally and with modified wand movements. Then each part of the spell was broken down and explained to Harry in a clear and concise manner. For the last half an hour, Harry practiced casting each spell. At the end of the lesson, he was able to cast each charm successfully. This did not mean he mastered each spell but he was able to cast them using the standard wand gestures and incantation.

"Very good!" Praised Nicholas. "I chose these spells because they require a certain level of control over your magic and mind. Since you were able to cast those spells, it means your magical and mental control is improving. When Penny and I tested you on these charms, you weren't able to cast them successfully."

"But don't these spells require more magical power than I had at that time?"

"If these spells required more power than the average witch or wizard, then they wouldn't be on the NEWTs."

"True." Responded Harry. "So I guess I have to practice these spells non-verbally next?"

"You are correct. Now I think it's time for your next lesson."

At that moment, Perenelle walked into the room levitating a stack of books.

"Are you boys done?"

"Yes. You came in right on time." Replied Nicholas.

"Excellent. You can now go and blow things up while Harry and I work on some mathematics."

"Well, have fun my boy."

Once Nicholas left, Perenelle dived in to her lesson. She picked up from where he began to struggle when he was being tested. She began by explaining a concept and then she gave him problems to work with. He did not find the problems difficult because he was able to use his elementary school math knowledge to help him out and he found it easy to apply the concepts she taught. However, he found the exercises to be tedious. At the end of the lesson, she assigned him a few more math problems and had him read a chapter in the textbook she gave him.

"You are doing very well with this subject. I wish more Hogwarts students went to muggle school or learned basic mathematics when they were younger. It makes teaching runes and spell crafting much easier. Now, I believe it is time to work on your fitness."

Harry quickly made his way to the fitness room and turned on the radio. Once again eighties music began to blast through the speakers. If Nicholas was here, he would have insisted on working out to eighties music but Nicholas was in his lab working on more alchemy experiments so Harry switched through the channels until he found something he liked. It took a few minutes but eventually, he settled on some nineties Hip-hop music.

Harry began his workout on an exercise bike, then he moved over to the bench press. Finally, he began to work with free weights.

"Looks like I'm not needed after all." Said Nicholas.

Harry was so engrossed in his workout that when Nicholas popped his head into the room, he was startled and almost dropped the weight on himself if it weren't for Nicholas's fast reaction.

"Sorry about that my boy. I should make plenty of noise the next time I check in on you."

"That's alright. I guess I was really into my workout."

"Yes. I understand. I get lost in thought many times when it is not the best time to be doing so. It's one of the draw backs of old age." Responded Nicholas.

"Right. By the way, do you like this music?"

"I think it sounds atrocious."

"Says the man who listens to people who screams like banshees."

"I'll have you know that eighties rock music requires great skill."

Before Harry could retort, Binky popped in and told them that it was time for lunch. As he approached the dining room, he could smell meat, bread, and rice cooking. Once he was seated, he piled plenty of meats and vegetables on top of his rice. He idly wondered who would be the better cook, him or the elves because when he tasted the chicken, he could tell that it was nicely seasoned. Strangely, this made him think about a girlfriend. He knew that he might not survive the war but if he ended up getting one, he wondered if she would be impressed with his cooking. When he finished eating, he was directed to the recreation room.

A few minutes later, Nicholas walked in carrying a book. It looked new judging by the shiny unwrinkled cover. He handed it to Harry and took a seat across from him.

"Before we work on Defense Against the Dark Arts, I want to get you thinking about leaders in wars and tactics that they used."

"Why?" Inquired Harry.

"Whether you like it or not, people look up to you as a leader or hero. Before you know it, you will end up in a leadership position."

"I've never led a group before and don't know how to at all. Also, I don't want the responsibility of taking care of other people."

"No matter if you lead or not, you'll already be concerned with the welfare of your friends and allies. It's in your nature to care. After all, why did you save Ginny Weasley?"

"Because I cared. Damn."

"Cheer up, my boy. Penny and I will help you the best we can but you'll find that this book on the table will be your best teacher."

Harry glanced at the book and saw that it was The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

"You realize this book is old right?

"Yes it is an old text but you shouldn't dismiss it. Many of the tactics and techniques are still relevant. I would like you to read the first chapter before our next lesson. I expect you to know it well because I will be testing you on it."

Harry nodded.

"Excellent. Now we fight." Nicholas waved his wand and the desks obediently moved to the edge of the room, making space for both of them. Not even a second after he said this, he launched a stunner at Harry who moved in the nick of time.

"First rule about fights, there is no honour in fighting for your life. You use any trick you have at your disposal."

Rather than responding verbally to Nicholas's advice, he retaliated with 2 overpowered stunners. Keeping an eye on the progress of his spells, he quickly spun away from a purple spell and banished a desk at Nicholas. Nicholas lazily banished the desk back at him and he was forced to dodge it. When he saw that the two stunners hit the shield, he was surprised to see it buckle. He was even more surprised to see Nicholas completely vanish. He tried to use all his physical senses to detect where Nicholas was. He was about to try something new such as pushing his magic out but before he could, his vision went black and his thoughts halted.

Harry opened his eyes and saw that Nicholas was standing in front of him.

"That wasn't bad but I know you could do better."

Perhaps it was his imagination but he thought he heard disappointment in Nicholas's voice. He stood up and prepared for another fight.

"Do I need to explain what you did wrong or do you know."

"I know." Harry responded in a mildly irritated tone.

Nicholas nodded in approval and once again, he sent a stunner at Harry. Harry swayed on the spot and sent back two stunners which Nicholas deflected. Somehow, Harry knew there was another spell he needed to avoid so instinctively, he ducked and returned fire with a few animation charms and several blinding spells. One of his spells was able to pull Nicholas to the ground. Harry was so surprised that he stopped moving for a split second which allowed Nicholas to once again stun him.

When Nicholas revived him, he sighed and allowed Nicholas to help him up.

"Better. You should always continue to move. I noticed that you do better under pressure which isn't a bad thing but I want you to fight well when you are not stressed."

Harry nodded.

"You look exhausted. Let us end our lesson here. Anyhow, Penny would like to see you now. She is in the greenhouse." Said Nicholas glancing at his watch.

Harry could only nod once more before he sluggishly moved the rest of his body towards the door. Eventually he arrived at the greenhouse and saw Perenelle harvesting plants with large leaves.

"Good afternoon Harry. Please grab a pair of gloves and come join me."

He went over to a shelf full of garden equipment and grabbed a pair of dragon-hide gloves which he slipped on as he walked over to where Perenelle was working.

"Do you know what plant this is?""

Harry scrutinized the plant with its sharp teeth and rubbery leaves for a long moment before he shook his head.

"This is a Chinese Chomping Cabbage. You will learn about this next year in Herb ology. I want to teach you about the properties of this plant now because there are many potions that use this ingredient. I believe you have used Skele-Gro?" Without waiting for an answer, she continued speaking. "Anyhow, I want to provide you with more in-depth information about this plant that your teacher will not talk about."

"Like what?" Harry asked in a curious tone.

"I'll get to that in a minute. First, let me show you how to care for this plant. As you can see, it has sharp teeth. This means it eats things. Fortunately, this kind only eats vegetables like carrots so you do not have to be too concerned with the teeth."

For the next half an hour, Harry worked beside Perenelle in harvesting it. As he trimmed leaves and fed cabbages, he noticed her precise movements when removing leaves. Every time he worked on a new plant, he tried to make his movements more precise and before he knew it, he and Perenelle were finished taking care of all the cabbages.

"As I mentioned, there is a secret about Chinese Chomping Cabbages that not many people know. With a spell, you can make the cabbage a carnivorous plant. Watch." Perenelle pointed her wand at a cabbage and spoke a long string of Latin. As she spoke, a stream of red light hit the cabbage. The outward appearance of the cabbage didn't change but Harry knew it was changed. When she put her hand near the teeth, acid started dripping from it. "Now you must be wondering about the benefits of changing a plant such as this one."

Harry nodded without keeping his eyes off of the plant.

"Blood is a very powerful ingredient. By providing flesh and blood to the cabbage, the healing properties of the plant become extremely potent. Now please help me cleanup and then you can go to your next lesson with Nick."

When Harry arrived back at the recreation room, he saw a note from Nicholas pinned to the door that told him to practice the same magic control exercises he was working on the day before. Rather than doing them there, he decided to do them back in his room. He worked on his wandless levitation charm for an hour before he relaxed and cleaned himself up for Dinner.

When he arrived at the dining room, he saw that Perenelle was calmly eating dinner and smirking at Nicholas while Nicholas sat there frowning and rubbing his right ear. He noticed that there were stains on his shirt and charred pieces of fabric hanging out of his pants. He wanted to ask but he felt that it would be rude so he filled his plate up with food and began eating.

"I can see that you want to ask what's going on. Well let me tell you that I was dragged by my ear out of my lab for dinner while I was working on a fascinating experiment." Said Nicholas sullenly.

"Is that where you were for my last lesson?"

Nicholas nodded while glancing at his wife.

"Normally I would be upset that you did that but it was good for Harry to review the exercises you gave him."

Harry saw that Nicholas relaxed slightly. Before he knew it, he cleaned off his plate. He was offered dessert but he politely declined and excused himself from the table.

Meanwhile in a small mansion, a family of four was also Sitting around a table eating dinner. However, the conversation was a bit more light-hearted. The mother asked her family something and the two girls and her husband nodded. The younger girl asked the older girl something which made the older girl blush. This caused the young girl, the mother, and the father to laugh. House elves popped in and out of the dining room carrying dishes and cups throughout their meal. Once the dishes were cleared, the family moved to the living room.

"Are you girls excited for our trip?"

"Yes daddy. I can't wait to see some of the famous attractions! Maybe we'll meet some cool people to hang out!"

"I know you're excited Astoria. Please settle down. What about you Daphne? Anything you want to see or do?"

"Not particularly."

"Knowing the minister's daughter, I'm sure you'll gain some interesting experiences."

"Now Alyssa, dear, I hope you don't mean what I think you mean?"

"Probably not the way you were thinking, love." Said Alyssa with a smile.

"Regardless of our plans, I want everyone to be safe and have fun."

"We also want Greengrass imports to be fruitful too. Don't we girls?"

Astoria bounced around while nodding excitedly and Daphne simply nodded.

"Of course, dear. Our Portkey is set for 7 in the morning tomorrow so we should all get our buts to bed."

With that said, everyone follow his advice and went off to bed.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. Hopefully this chapter can make up for it a bit. It's my longest chapter so far.

Disclaimer:

The Harry Potter universe and all the characters in it belong to J. K. Rowling.

Chapter 9 Harry's Birthday

Two months had past, which equated to one month outside the time bubble, since Harry began his training with Nicholas and Perenelle. During those months, he grew stronger physically, magically, and emotionally. He now stood at five feet eight and moved with fluidity and confidence. When he casted his magic, his spells were controlled and potent. Also, due to the repetition of lessons, he developed a routine. This meant that every day, his body would wake him up at 5:30 in the morning to start his training. He would always begin the day with meditation and Auclumency exercises. He felt that today was going to be different and that was confirmed when he went to the recreation room and saw a message for him to come to the dining room. When he walked into the room, he saw a big banner saying happy birthday Harry, a mountain of food, and the Flamels waiting for him.

"Good morning, my boy! How does it feel to be fifteen?"

"Good morning. Is it really my birthday today?"

"Indeed it is." Nicholas said with a smile. "You look surprised."

"Yeah I am. I guess I was training so hard that I forgot my birthday. I mean, I know I've gotten presents from people in the last four years but I still don't really see it as a special day." Harry replied with a blush.

Nicholas and Perenelle looked angry and saddened before they smiled again.

"Well dear, we'll have to make all your birthdays special from now on, beginning with this year"

"So, what are we going to do today?" Harry inquired sounding excited.

"Well my boy, we know that you've never traveled to France so we have arranged a portkey to take you to Carrousel du Louvre which is located at the heart of Paris. From there, it's up to you. You can explore the muggle stores or you can explore the magical section of the shopping centre which is underneath the muggle side."

"I assume the magical side is kind of like Diagon Alley?"

"Yes. However it's larger." Nicholas responded.

"Multiple entrances?"

"Indeed, my boy. Glad our lessons haven't gone to waste." Said Nicholas with a smile. "The one under Carrousel du Louvre is the newest one since the mall was only built last year. The other entrance is located on the west side of Paris in the atrium of the French Ministry of Magic."

"I know you have many more questions but you should eat this delicious food the elves have worked hard to make." Perenelle cut in.

Harry ate quickly eager to explore Paris. He stuffed some eggs, pancakes, and ham in his mouth without any decorum. Perenelle and Nicholas looked at him with fondness and amusement. When he finished, he casted a glamour charm over himself making him look like a middle aged man with a little bit of fat and graying hair. Nicholas tossed him the Portkey tied to a bag of money which he instinctively caught. Immediately, he felt a hook in his naval, flashes of colours, and the accompanying spinning sensation before he felt solid ground beneath his feet.

When his head stopped spinning and he was able to survey his surroundings, he saw that he landed a couple blocks away from the Louvre Museum's famous glass pyramid which was above the Carrousel du Louvre. He slipped around the dumpster that blocked the view of his arrival and casually walked towards the shopping centre.

When he entered through the main doors, a cacophony of sound, smells, and images hit him. He was able to hear many people chattering in French, the jazz music playing through the speakers above, the various genres of music coming from the shops and the rustle of shopping bags. He was not able to discern many of the smells but he was able to smell different types of fragrances. When he glanced from side to side, he saw glass cases framing the goods the stores were selling, brightly coloured lights, and crowds of people wandering around with their purchases.

Since he never explored an indoor shopping centre before, he spent several hours in the morning either examining displays or looking around at the products being sold in the stores. He wandered around a few electronic stores and marveled at some of the recent technological inventions that were on display. Absent mindedly, he wandered if there was an equivalent magical gadget that would accomplish the same tasks. Although he found the muggle section of the mall interesting, he was more interested in the magical side.

He remembered that Nicholas told him that the magical section was underneath the muggle side so he went in search of a way to enter the lower levels. He found a staircase and a sign pointing him in the right direction. Soon he found himself at what seemed to be a dead end. Knowing how the magical world worked, he strode through the wall into the magical district without any hesitation.

When he crossed through the barrier, he found himself in an identical layout of the upper level with the exception of people wearing robes and carrying wands. He recognized some stores such as Eeylops Owl Emporium, and Slug and Jiggers Apothecary but he found some stores to be unfamiliar to him such as Magical Discoveries. When he glanced towards the ceiling, he found it to reflect the weather outside just like in Hogwarts. He also noticed shutes spaced equally apart at regular intervals throughout the area. He was wondering why they were there but his question was answered when he saw many owls of different shapes and sizes fly up and down them carrying mail and other parcels.

Instantly he thought about his loyal friend Hedwig and immense guilt hit him. He wondered how he could have forgotten her and not notice her absence and realized that the time field prevented her from finding him and he hadn't been thinking of anything else but training ever since he left the Dursleys. As if she was sensing his thoughts, his beautiful snowy owl flew down the nearest shute and gently landed on his shoulder. She stared at him balefully for a moment before she pecked his ear once drawing blood.

"Outch! I suppose I deserved that, girl. I'm sorry I forgot about you. I feel really bad about it. I'll make it up to you."

In answer Hedwig hooted happily and gently nibbled on his ear.

Feeling better, he went to Eeylops Owl Emporium which was three stores down from where he stood and bought Hedwig 2 large bags of treats. After that, he gave her some instructions on where to find him and before her hoot finished reverberating off the walls, she was gone once more.

Across from the Apothecary, Harry saw a display of gadgets that looked like mugggle inventions and he was able to sense powerful magic emanating from inside the shop. This naturally peaked his curiosity. In no time at all, he stood inside the shop. Shelves of complex rune schemes were stacked to the ceiling and strange gadgets that hummed, hissed and whined floated throughout the store. Although it felt cramped, somehow, it reminded him of Nicholas and Perenelle's experiments. At the back of the store, there was a counter with a device that looked like a cash register sitting on top of its wooden surface. As he approached it, he realized it was not just a simple cash register, it was layered with powerful enchantments.

"Bonjour young man. How may I help you? My name is Jack Mercier. I am the owner of this shop."

"Hi. I'm just looking around. I felt a lot of magic coming from your store and I guess I was curious. What do you sell? It looks like you have a bunch of tools that look like muggle inventions and rune schemes."

"Oui monsieur! You are correct. I am an inventor and these are my inventions. My inventions look like muggle tools because I am trying to create a magical version of muggle tools"

"That's really cool. Why do you create gadgets rather than spells to do the same things?"

"If one were to do complex tasks, they would need to cast several spells. What if the person did not know the spells or had enough magic or mental focus to cast those spells? They would not be able to do the task. This is why I use runes and enchantments to create my tools. My dream is for everyone to be able to use my inventions. Let me show you one of them."

Jack strode over to a case containing a hovering cube that was the size of his thumb and handed it to Harry. When harry felt it, he was surprised at how light it felt and the number of runes that were engraved onto it.

"What you are holding is my latest invention. It is a magical dictionary or thesaurus. All you have to do is link it to any dictionary or thesaurus and when you move the cube over a word or phrase, it will show you the definition or translation. The cube has The rune here…"

As Jack continued to speak, he became animated and extremely enthusiastic about his work and Harry couldn't help but feel his excitement. Several ideas came to Harry and he couldn't help but look forward to speaking to Perenelle about them.

"…and finally, this rune here makes the text display in the air."

"Wow. That sounds really complex. You said it could display translations when you explained it's functions. Does this mean I could connect it to a runic dictionary?" Harry asked with excitement.

"Oui. You are correct."

"How much is it for one of these?"

"For you, my friend, it will be 30 galleons."

Without hesitation, he pulled out 30 galleons from his bag and handed it to a beaming Jack.

"Merci monsieur. Would you like me to package it up?"

"Yes please."

As Jack was wrapping the cube up, another question popped into Harry's mind.

"Why did you explain in detail how the gadget worked? Aren't you afraid that someone will steal your idea and design?"

"No not at all!. It is an impossibility. All my successful inventions are patented and these pureblood fools will never want to use my devices. Have you noticed that during the time we have been speaking there has been no one else that has come into the shop? "

"That's true. Is it because people don't like anything to do with muggles remotely?"

Jack nodded and sighed.

"Even though in France there is less discrimination on blood, it still exists. Also, not many people in our society like trying new inventions and the people that do, which are usually young adults such as yourself, are frowned upon by their pureblood peers or parents."

"Well, maybe I'll bring some people to see your inventions next time I am here."

"I look forward to it. Have a wonderful day."

Harry stepped out of the store and glanced at the clock mounted on a post. Seeing that it was half past noon, he decided to get some lunch. He navigated his way back to the muggle area of the shopping centre and located the food court. He found it to be slightly more crowded compared to the rest of the mall but it was not as crowded as he thought it would be.

Although he knew what different foods were, he had never experienced some of them thanks to the Dursleys. Therefore he decided to buy the smallest size of many different food items from various stands. It would have been difficult to consume all the food if he was a middle aged man with a slow metabolism but for Harry, who was a growing boy, it was not an issue at all.

When Harry finished his lunch, he glanced at the clock once again and was reminded that he needed to purchase a new watch since the one he had stopped working during the second task of the tournament. He returned to the magical side of the mall and easily located the jewelry store. It was an even smaller place than Magical Discoveries and the person behind the counter looked very unfriendly. When he walked in, the man did not welcome him but kept reading the newspaper. when he finally looked at Harry, he gave him a scowl and made no effort to engage him in conversation. Knowing that he was not welcome but refusing to be intimidated by him, he deliberately took his time perusing the selection of watches. He found them to be either too simplistic or too fancy. He thought about making one as a project and found the idea to be appealing. Since there was nothing else of interest to him, he walked out of the shop making sure to flash his large bag of galleons at the clerk.

Next, he saw a store selling instruments. Wondering what instruments they sold and what kind of modifications they had, he wandered into the store. The store compared to the previous two was large. It spanned two store fronts and in the displays, instruments of all shapes and sizes could be seen. A cacophony of sounds could be heard, growing louder, as he approached the store. Near the front of the shop, Harry saw self-tuning amplifiers, guitars, drums, and pianos. Near the back of the store, he saw self-tuning and self-cleaning violins. As he wandered around the back of the store, he found a strange looking instrument that looked like a cross between a guitar and a drum. There were metal strings over the top and down the sides of the drum shaped instrument which was made of wood and there were a few runes peeking through the network of strings. Wondering how it was played, he read the sign above it which said, "This instrument is called the vom and it was inventing by Herbo the Fowl in 1908. To play the instrument, you must have good control of your magic. Let your magic flow out and into the instrument. Depending on the feel of your magic, the sound of the instrument will adjust accordingly." Closing his eyes, Harry felt for his magic and let it flow out of him and directed it through his hand to the instrument.

The instrument began to play and the vibrations of the strings against the head of the drum caused a peculiar sound. It sounded like the gentle tapping of strings and a warbling sound which resonated throughout the shop. Harry tried controlling the current of his magic and found that the narrower the stream of magic, the lower the volume and the larger the stream, the louder the volume. When he decided to use different types of magic by changing his intent, he found that the texture of the note changed. Finally, when he aimed his magic around the instrument, he found that the pitch changed. When he figured it all out, he started to play simple melodies and then he gradually played more complex melodies.

When he looked up, he saw a middle aged man grinning broadly at him.

"Did you just pick up this instrument?"

"Yes." Responded Harry.

"You are a natural!"

"Thank you."

"I could feel your emotions and the strength of your magic in those pieces. Anyone can see that you have great control over your magic. Anyways, my name is Mark Jameson and I am the owner of this store."

"Thanks. Do you have books that will teach me how to play this?"

"Not many people can play it so we do not have it on the shelf but I think I still have a few in the storage room. Let me take a look."

When Mark came back a few minutes later, he was carrying 4 large black leather bound books.

""Here you are. I can order more if you are interested but I believe these will do for now."

"Thanks."

Harry paid for the instrument and the books. Then he shrunk the entire package into the size of a matchbox and shoved it into his pocket. Even though it did not feel like hours, he saw that the time was already 7:30 PM when he glanced up at the clock. He was planning on getting dinner when he came across a large lineup of people which extended from the top of the L to the end of that segment. This peeked Harry's curiosity so he asked a girl at the end of the line what was happening. She told him that the club, The French Flower, was opening.

Since Harry had never been to a club, he decided to try to get in. The girl gave him a weird look when he got in line behind her but other than that, she did not react in any other way. The line slowly crept forward. Finally, it was his turn.

He thought he would have to cast some spells or show his fake ID that Perenelle provided him but surprisingly, they only gave him a cursory glance before they waved him in and moved onto the next person.

When he stepped in, he saw that he was in a spacious and dimly lit room with different coloured flashing lights and small charmed objects floating around carrying messages. He also saw large crowds of people dancing to the music that was blaring all around him. He found it surprising that the place was not warmer considering the amount of people in the room. Harry figured that there were cooling charms applied to the entire place. Making his way through the tightly packed room was somewhat difficult but eventually, he found his way to the bar where the music slightly lessened.

As Harry was examining the interior of the club, Fleur and Daphne were dressing up for a fun evening at the French Flower. Both girls knew what they wanted to wear so it did not take any time for them to get ready. When they were satisfied with the way they looked, they met in the living room where the fireplace was and said a quick goodbye to Fleur's mother. Grabbing a handful of powder each, they stepped into the fireplace, shouted the destination and vanished.

When they arrived, they saw that a large crowd was already inside and dancing to the music. Daphne had never been in a club so she stopped and stared openmouthed at the people around her.

"What do you think?" Inquired Fleur while shouting in Daphne's ear.

"This looks interesting but also very crazy." Replied Daphne while shouting back in her ear.

"Yes." As she acknowledged this fact, she made a few swipes with her wand and the volume of the blasting music considerably lowered. ""There. Now we can talk."

"What was that? A sound bubble?"

"Oui. That is correct!"

As Fleur scanned the crowd with her eyes and with her magical sensory capabilities, she stopped and looked at Daphne in surprise.

"Is that Monsieur Potter I see?"

"Where?" Daphne asked with a hint of curiosity in her voice. "I don't see him."

"I believe he's hidden under a glamour. Look there. That's him." Fleur stated while pointing to a middle aged man with a little bit of fat and graying hair who was leaning against a bar.

"That's a really good glamour. How did you know?"

"I recognize the feel of his magic and the way he slouches gave it away."

"Wow. You must really like him." Daphne teased.

"I observe everyone!" Fleur sniffed hotly. "Why don't we go say hello to him?"

The two made their way towards him by navigating around and squeezing through crowds of people who were gyrating and grinding to the music. They approached him from the left while he was looking in the opposite direction so when Fleur spoke, he was startled.

"Bonjour Harry."

"Fleur? How did you recognize me?" Harry glanced down to reassure himself that his glamour was still intact. "Is this one of the abilities vilas have and who is the girl with you?"

When Harry glanced at Daphne, the first thing he noticed was her oval shaped face with a button nose, full lips, and striking blue eyes. The second thing he noticed about her was her slender figure with defining curves that would be the envy of many girls. Finally, he took in the long straight black hair that ended at the small of her back.

"First of all, this is Daphne Greengrass. She is also from Hogwarts in Slytherin house I believe. Fleur responded with amusement as she caught Harry checking her out. "I was able to recognize you by the feel of your magic. You are definitely more powerful than before. I am assuming a portion of it was suppressed?"

"Yes. It's a long story. I can't believe I didn't notice you Daphne. If you don't know already, I'm Harry. Nice to meet you." Harry responded as he stretched his hand out.

When Harry took her soft warm hand, he noticed an heir ring. Instead of shaking it, he brushed his lips lightly against the knuckles of her hand.

"Nice to meet you too, Harry." Daphne responded while blushing. Can you please remove your glamour so I can see you?"

Harry thought about the risks and realized that there was only a slim chance that someone would recognize him. With a wave of his hand, his glamour dispersed.

Daphne and Fleur looked surprised at his new appearance. Daphne examined his slender but muscular physique along with his hypnotic green eyes and windswept hair.

"You look very different. I bet all the things that have happened with you and the golden trio didn't leave you time to check out girls much. Not to mention, there is the rivalry between slyterin and griffindor."

"I believe he will be able to explain his new look when he tells us what happened. Let us go to my private lounge." Fleur interjected.

They made their way towards a hallway at the back of the main area which led into many lounges. The one that Fleur brought them to was at the end of the hall. It had two doors which swung outward and facing the entrance to the main area. On the doors, it had the crest of the Delacour family which consisted of a Veela in full transformation with fireballs arcing towards the sky. When she unlocked the door with a tap of her wand, Harry could see expensive leather couches and low glass tables tastefully arranged throughout a middle sized room that was lit by an enchanted ball of light hanging from the ceiling. A window dominated the back of the room while the fireplace took up the right wall. On the left side of the room, a large tapestry of Fleur's family tree occupied a large portion of the wall.

"Welcome to my private lounge! What do both of you think?"

Still not use to such opulence, Harry went with a safe but honest answer. "I like the atmosphere with the glowing fireplace and the enchanted light."

"Me too." Replied Daphne. "I also love the furniture. It is very fitting of the Minister's daughter."

Fleur smiled and gestured towards a couch.

"Please take a seat. Have you eaten yet Harry?"

"No. I was going to get some food but the long lineup outside the club made me curious."

"Then you are welcome to dine with us." Fleur stated imperially with a smile on her face.

Without a word, a house elf wearing a towel with the Delacour crest popped in front of them.

"How may I serve you mistress?"

"First, please get us drinks. For me I would like a glass of red wine. What about both of you?"

"I would like some mango juice. Daphne said."

"I know you love your mango juice but you should try something alcoholic. After all we're at a club." Fleur responded.

"What would you recommend?"

"What about a Strawberry Mango Margarita?"

Knowing that Fleur could be quite insistent, Daphne agreed.

"What about you Harry?"

"Water's fine."

"Please bring me a glass of red wine, a glass of water for Harry, and a Strawberry Mango Margarita for Daphne."

"Very good, mistress. I will return shortly with the drinks and the food."

"Thank you Daisy."

Daisy disappeared and returned shortly wandlessly floating their drinks and platters of food. Fleur quickly transfigured the glass table into a dining room table before Daisy set everything down. There were platters of steamed vegetables, roasted duck, freshly baked bread, and bowls filled with bouillabaisse. The aroma was fragrant and it made all of their mouths water.

"Thank you Daisy. Please eat!"

Without another word, everyone tucked into the food and consumed a large portion of it before any conversation took place.

"So Fleur, do you own this place?" Harry inquired.

"My family owns this place. They wanted a place to have meetings that the pure bloods would never go to."

"That's very clever. Harry said.

"They would be too afraid that they would be tainted by the filth." Daphne responded disdainfully.

"Very true." Fleur said with amusement.

"I could just see the Malfoys looking at this with disgust." Harry said while trying to keep a smirk off his face.

"I remember a Malfoy at Hogwarts. He was the one that was turned into a ferret?"

Harry and Daphne nodded.

"Yes. He certainly would not like this place and if he tries to enter, he will be thrown out."

"I'd like to see that. How do you and Daphne know each other?"

"Do you want to answer this one?"

"Sure." Daphne responded. "We are both pure blood families which means we get together at many social gatherings. Unlike the majority of families in England, we socialize with other pure blood and wealthy families all over the world. Also, my father locates artifacts for many countries including France which means my father and her father who is the magical Minister, work together often. As you can guess, Fleur and I see each other a lot."

"Ah. I see."

"How was your drink and how are you feeling?" Fleur asked as she saw Daphne finish it.

"I'm fine. I don't feel tipsy or anything. It was really good. I didn't realize that you couldn't taste the alcohol in some drinks."

"Oui. These drinks are very delicious. Also, you only had one so it most likely did not do anything. Can I interest you in a drink, Harry?"

"No thanks. I'm already very full." Harry responded with a smile. "This was very good food. I'm assuming this wasn't the normal food from the club?"

"Oui. The food is from our personal chefs at home. The only item that came from the club was the drink."

"Would you like some cheese cake for dessert?"

Harry shook his head.

"What about you Daphne? I know how much you love cheese cake."

"Definitely."

Daisy popped back in with two plates containing a slice of cheese cake which she placed in front of Fleur and Daphne. She refilled Harry's glass of water and removed the empty platters.

"If you are willing, please tell us why you look different and why your magic is different as well."

"Also how are you able to do wandless magic?" Daphne inquired sounding excited.

Harry began by telling them about what happened at the end of last year. He told them in great detail about the imposter, Cedric's death, and Voldemort's resurrection. Then, he talked a bit about his mentors and some of the ways they were training him. He discussed how he hid his intelligence and the removal of the magical blocks. He did not reveal all his abilities or go into detail on the ones that he talked about but he did let them know that he was immensely powerful. He told them about Ron and Hermione's betrayal as well as why Dumbledore and Voldemort were equally bad. Finally, he made it clear to them that he would fight Dumbledore and Voldemort at the same time.

When he was finished, he felt spent and lighter. When he looked around, he found Fleur and Daphne sitting next to him with their arms around him crying into his shoulders. To his surprise, he found himself hugging both of them and reassuring them that he was fine.

"When I asked you for your story, I did not expect this. Did you Daphne?"

She shook her head while still clinging onto him.

"I don't understand why Dumbledore, Hermione, and Ron can do such things! They are supposed to be good." Daphne stated this with great disgust.

"I guess money, books, power mattered to them the most. It's funny how fate works, I never wanted those things. All I wanted was a family and friends. Instead, I have more money and power to know what to do with."

"I know you didn't want any of this but you should not throw it away. Use your power to change the world. Now that I know a bit about you, I know you are strong, intelligent, and powerful enough to reach your goals." Said Daphne with conviction.

"I used to want to be normal but with the help of my mentors, I don't want to be normal any longer. I want to change the world." Harry responded with a smile.

"And hopefully, we will be part of your journey." Fleur said.

"I hope both of you will be with me for most of the journey but if you don't want to…"

"I will have to discuss with the rest of my family about forming an alliance with you. However, whether they agree or not, you will have my support. I too like Daphne believe you can succeed. I also owe you still for saving Gabby's life." Fleur cut in.

"You don't owe me anything. All I ask is your friendship which you freely give. For that, I am grateful."

"I need to discuss this with my family so that we can form an alliance but as Fleur stated, regardless of my father's decision, you will have my friendship and support."

Harry felt a lump form in his throat and tears beginning to fall. Feeling embarrassed, he wiped away his tears.

"Thank you so much. You don't know how much this means to me."

"You're very welcome." Said Daphne sincerely.

The moment was broken when Harry excused himself to go to the washroom. When he returned, he saw that Fleur was holding three stone tablets.

"What are those?" Harry inquired.

The tablets were square pieces of rock that were perfectly flat. They were 2 centimeters thick and all sides were exactly 5 centimeters long. Along the edge, a large variety of runes were engraved into them. The centre of the squares were smooth enough that one could see their own reflection in them.

"I have connected the tablets already." The elf stated proudly.

"Merci Daisy. These are communication tablets. Anything you write on them will instantly appear on the other two. If you activate the star rune, the communication method will be switched to voice and the rune will light up every time you speak. If you activate it once again, the communication method will switch to audio and visual. If you wish to communicate with only one person, you would need to activate the circular shaped rune. If the colours are red and green, it means that Daphne and I are the only people talking. If it is blue and green, it means the conversation will be only between Harry and Daphne. If it is blue and red, the conversation will be between Harry and me. Finally, the rectangular shaped rune will shrink and expand the tablet. Do both of you understand?"

Daphne and Harry nodded.

"Where did you get those?" Inquired Daphne.

"They have been in my family's vault for several decades." Fleur said while handing out the tablets.

"Thanks. I will definitely contact both of you soon. I might not be able to respond right away due to my training and I'm not sure how the time bubble will affect it."

"When I read an account of an ancestor using this, he said that a time bubble does not affect it. When you want to communicate, you would only need to take into account the time difference."

"That's awesome. It's getting late, I better get going." Harry said while glancing at the numbers displayed from his wand.

"Of course. Before you go, if you and Daphne can provide a drop of blood I will key both of you into the wards. This means you will be able to freely enter the club and we can have our meetings here.

"Great idea." Daphne responded.

Fleur pricked their finger with a self-cleaning pocket knife and dropped their blood into a tiny groove on the mantle of the fireplace.

"There. It is done. I am glad we are able to meet again. As you English say, we will keep in contact. Oh and happy birthday Harry."

"Absolutely. It was nice seeing you again Fleur and it was wonderful meeting you Daphne."

Likewise Harry. Oh. Before I forget, happy birthday." As she said this, she leaned forward towards him and kissed him on the cheek.

Harry felt like he had won the lottery. This was evident in the way he smiled at her. He grasped his portkey and instantly disappeared from the lounge. When he arrived in the kitchen, he was still grinning.

Perenelle and Nicholas entered the kitchen a second later and greeted him.

"I see you had a good day." Nicholas stated.

"Yeah. I tried some new food, found out that I was naturally talented at playing the vom, found an invention that would give me instant access to entries in dictionaries, and had dinner with Daphne and Fleur!"

"I am guessing from your grin that one of them kissed you?" Nicholas teased.

"Yep. It was Daphne." Harry responded while blushing.

"Sounds like you had a busy day. Your training starts again tomorrow. I would recommend you go to bed." Perenelle said with a smile.

Harry nodded and got ready for bed. When he was drifting off into dreamland, he knew his dreams tonight would be about a gorgeous girl with black hair and blue eyes.


End file.
